In the present study, we investigated how increased sympathetic tone during middle-age affects th... more In the present study, we investigated how increased sympathetic tone during middle-age affects the splenic sympathetic neurotransmission. Fifteen-month-old (M) F344 rats received rilmenidine (0, 0.5 or 1.5mg/kg/day, i.p. for 90 days) to lower sympathetic tone. Controls for age were untreated 3 or 18M rats. We report that rilmenidine (1) reduced plasma and splenic norepinephrine concentrations and splenic norepinephrine turnover, and partially reversed the sympathetic nerve loss; and (2) increased β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) density and β-AR-stimulated cAMP production. Collectively, these findings suggest a protective effect of lowering sympathetic tone on sympathetic nerve integrity, and enhanced sympathetic neurotransmission in secondary immune organs.
To evaluate the long-term risk of developing cognitive symptoms (e.g., dementia, hallucinations),... more To evaluate the long-term risk of developing cognitive symptoms (e.g., dementia, hallucinations), dyskinesia, falls, and freezing of gait (FoG) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who received monoamine oxidase type B inhibitors (MAOB-Is) compared with patients who had never received MAOB-Is. Retrospective, cross-sectional, cohort study. Academic movement disorders clinic. One hundred eighty-one patients with idiopathic PD who were receiving MAOB-I therapy on a long-term basis for a minimum of 1 year (MAOB-I current-user cohort) and 121 patients with idiopathic PD who had never received MAOB-I therapy (MAOB-I never-user cohort [control group]) between January 1, 1996, and November 30, 2011. The five study outcome variables were dementia, dyskinesia, falls, FoG, and hallucinations. Baseline and outcome data were collected from medical records. Patients in the MAOB-I current-user group were included only if absence of the specified outcomes was documented at baseline. Adjust...
ABSTRACT The relationship between ambient air pollution and cardiovascular disease is currently a... more ABSTRACT The relationship between ambient air pollution and cardiovascular disease is currently a topic of debate. If there is a relationship, this could have great implications for policy regulations. Methods: To study the health effect of long-term ambient air pollution, a cohort of 6,338 nonsmoking, white California Seventh-day Adventists was followed with respect to health outcomes from 1977. To be included in the study, participants must have lived within 10 miles of their 1977 address for the previous 10 years. At baseline in 1977, a comprehensive lifestyle and diet questionnaire was completed and the cohort was followed with update of residence and workplace in order to assess monthly averages of ambient air pollutants throughout the study period. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, dusts and fumes in the workplaces, and time spent outdoors was assessed through selfadministered questionnaires in 1977, 1987, and again in 1992. The risk of fatal stroke (ICD: 430-438) was ascertained between 1977 and 1992 through matching with death certificates obtained from the National Death Index (NDI). Monthly indices of gaseous ambient air pollutant concentrations (O3, NO2, SO2) were obtained from the California Air Resource Board monitoring stations from 1973-1992, and interpolated to zip code centroids. Cox proportional hazards were used to estimate relative risks (RR) of CHD death associated with an interquartile range (IQR) increase in mean concentrations of each ambient air pollutant averaged over the 5-year period immediately preceding death. The analyses excluded those with prevalent strock at baseline and was controlled for age, pack-years of past cigarette smoking, history of diabetes, history of hypertension, BMI, years of education, and total exercise level. Results: Elevated risk of fatal stroke was found for all gaseous ambient air pollution levels with the highest risk estimates for SO2. Table: ISEE-346
Aging is associated with reduced cellular immunity, which leads to increased rates of infectious ... more Aging is associated with reduced cellular immunity, which leads to increased rates of infectious disease, cancer and autoimmunity in the elderly. Previous findings from our laboratory revealed an age-related decline in sympathetic innervation of immune organs that affects immunity. These studies suggested potential sympathetic nervous system involvement in age-induced immune dysregulation. The purpose of this study was to longitudinally characterize the effects of age on sympathetic neurotransmission in the spleen and net sympathetic activity/tone in male Fischer 344 rats. Splenic sympathetic neurotransmission was evaluated between 8 and 24 months of age by (1) splenic norepinephrine (NE) concentration and turnover, (2) beta-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR) expression and (3) beta-AR-stimulated splenocyte cAMP production. Measures of sympathetic neurotransmission were correlated with age-related changes in Concanavalin A (Con A)-stimulated splenocyte proliferation. Splenic NE turnover increased during middle age, then subsequently declined by 18 months of age compared with 8-month-old controls (young). Splenic NE concentration increased at 10 months and decreased at 18-24 months, compared with young rats; however, plasma NE levels were not affected by age. Plasma epinephrine levels were decreased at 24 months. NE synthesis blockade increased and decreased the rate of plasma catecholamine depletion in middle and old age, respectively. beta-AR-stimulated cAMP production increased in splenocytes by 15 months. An age-related decrease in Con A-induced splenocyte proliferation was apparent by 10 months and persisted through 24 months. The decline in Con A-induced splenocyte proliferation correlated with the age-related increase in cAMP production. Aging alters sympathetic nervous system metabolism in the spleen to affect beta-AR signaling to splenocytes, suggesting that altered sympathetic-immune modulation changes are evident by early middle age.
ABSTRACT Home > November 2006 - Volume 17 - Issue 6 > Zip Codes or Street Addresses... more ABSTRACT Home > November 2006 - Volume 17 - Issue 6 > Zip Codes or Street Addresses? Comparing Ambient Ozone Expos... < Previous Article | Next Article > Epidemiology: November 2006 - Volume 17 - Issue 6 - p S110 ISEE/ISEA 2006 Conference Abstracts Supplement: Session Abstracts: Abstracts Zip Codes or Street Addresses? Comparing Ambient Ozone Exposures for Alternative Spatial Resolutions of Cohort Subjects Soret, S*; Ghamsary, M*; Shavlik, D*; Beeson, W L.*; Chen, L H.*; Wiafe, S*; Press, J†; Knutsen, S* Free Access Article Outline Author Information *School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA; and †University of California, Riverside, CA SM5-PD-03 Back to Top | Article Outline Introduction: Accurate estimation of exposures is of the outmost importance for drawing valid inferences about the spatial relationship of risk factors with health outcomes of concern. In air pollution epidemiology, estimates are often derived from monitoring data. With GIS technology, we can map individuals to their street address rather than to a central location by zip code. Assuming the validity of the spatial interpolation method chosen and the representativeness of exposure data, an independent question remains: Does enhanced positional accuracy of subjects result in reduced exposure misclassification? We compared the estimated ozone exposures assigned to our cohort subjects when their locations are resolved alternatively by zip code centroids and by street addresses.
ABSTRACT The relationship between ambient air pollution and cardiovascular disease is currently a... more ABSTRACT The relationship between ambient air pollution and cardiovascular disease is currently a topic of debate. If there is a relationship, this could have great implications for policy regulations. Methods: To study the health effect of long-term ambient air pollution, a cohort of 6,338 nonsmoking, white California Seventh-day Adventists was followed with respect to health outcomes from 1977. To be included in the study, participants must have lived within 10 miles of their 1977 address for the previous 10 years. At baseline in 1977, a comprehensive lifestyle and diet questionnaire was completed and the cohort was followed with update of residence and workplace in order to assess monthly averages of ambient air pollutants throughout the study period. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, dusts and fumes in the workplaces, and time spent outdoors was assessed through selfadministered questionnaires in 1977, 1987, and again in 1992. The risk of fatal stroke (ICD: 430-438) was ascertained between 1977 and 1992 through matching with death certificates obtained from the National Death Index (NDI). Monthly indices of gaseous ambient air pollutant concentrations (O3, NO2, SO2) were obtained from the California Air Resource Board monitoring stations from 1973-1992, and interpolated to zip code centroids. Cox proportional hazards were used to estimate relative risks (RR) of CHD death associated with an interquartile range (IQR) increase in mean concentrations of each ambient air pollutant averaged over the 5-year period immediately preceding death. The analyses excluded those with prevalent strock at baseline and was controlled for age, pack-years of past cigarette smoking, history of diabetes, history of hypertension, BMI, years of education, and total exercise level. Results: Elevated risk of fatal stroke was found for all gaseous ambient air pollution levels with the highest risk estimates for SO2. Table: ISEE-346
We sought to evaluate and distinguish roles of sociodemographic predictors for delayed- versus ea... more We sought to evaluate and distinguish roles of sociodemographic predictors for delayed- versus early-stage cervical cancer. Demographic variables for 13,624 cervical cancers having complete data for age at diagnosis (4 categories), race and ethnicity (4 categories), socioeconomic status (SES) quintiles, and marital status (3 categories) were extracted from the California Cancer Registry database for the period 1996 to 2005 and analyzed using multiple logistic regression as predictors of delayed- versus early-stage diagnosis. Fifty-eight percent of cervical cancers were among women younger than 50 years, compared with 46% of delayed-stage cases. Independent odds of delayed- versus early-stage cervical cancer were higher for older age categories within each race and ethnic group. Declining odds of delayed- versus early-stage diagnosis were evident for increasing SES quintiles among Asian or other (trend P = .015), non-Hispanic black (P = .024), Hispanic (P = .001), and non-Hispanic white (P = .001) women. Odds of delayed- versus early-stage cervical cancer were highest among unmarried compared with married women. Our findings support evidence that older age, low SES, and unmarried status predict delayed-stage cervical cancer diagnosis in each of the four major race and ethic groups. The two lowest SES quintiles independently identified larger percentages of delayed-stage cervical cancers in each of the race and ethnicity groups assessed, particularly among Hispanic and non-Hispanic black women.
In the present study, we investigated how increased sympathetic tone during middle-age affects th... more In the present study, we investigated how increased sympathetic tone during middle-age affects the splenic sympathetic neurotransmission. Fifteen-month-old (M) F344 rats received rilmenidine (0, 0.5 or 1.5mg/kg/day, i.p. for 90 days) to lower sympathetic tone. Controls for age were untreated 3 or 18M rats. We report that rilmenidine (1) reduced plasma and splenic norepinephrine concentrations and splenic norepinephrine turnover, and partially reversed the sympathetic nerve loss; and (2) increased β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) density and β-AR-stimulated cAMP production. Collectively, these findings suggest a protective effect of lowering sympathetic tone on sympathetic nerve integrity, and enhanced sympathetic neurotransmission in secondary immune organs.
To evaluate the long-term risk of developing cognitive symptoms (e.g., dementia, hallucinations),... more To evaluate the long-term risk of developing cognitive symptoms (e.g., dementia, hallucinations), dyskinesia, falls, and freezing of gait (FoG) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who received monoamine oxidase type B inhibitors (MAOB-Is) compared with patients who had never received MAOB-Is. Retrospective, cross-sectional, cohort study. Academic movement disorders clinic. One hundred eighty-one patients with idiopathic PD who were receiving MAOB-I therapy on a long-term basis for a minimum of 1 year (MAOB-I current-user cohort) and 121 patients with idiopathic PD who had never received MAOB-I therapy (MAOB-I never-user cohort [control group]) between January 1, 1996, and November 30, 2011. The five study outcome variables were dementia, dyskinesia, falls, FoG, and hallucinations. Baseline and outcome data were collected from medical records. Patients in the MAOB-I current-user group were included only if absence of the specified outcomes was documented at baseline. Adjust...
ABSTRACT The relationship between ambient air pollution and cardiovascular disease is currently a... more ABSTRACT The relationship between ambient air pollution and cardiovascular disease is currently a topic of debate. If there is a relationship, this could have great implications for policy regulations. Methods: To study the health effect of long-term ambient air pollution, a cohort of 6,338 nonsmoking, white California Seventh-day Adventists was followed with respect to health outcomes from 1977. To be included in the study, participants must have lived within 10 miles of their 1977 address for the previous 10 years. At baseline in 1977, a comprehensive lifestyle and diet questionnaire was completed and the cohort was followed with update of residence and workplace in order to assess monthly averages of ambient air pollutants throughout the study period. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, dusts and fumes in the workplaces, and time spent outdoors was assessed through selfadministered questionnaires in 1977, 1987, and again in 1992. The risk of fatal stroke (ICD: 430-438) was ascertained between 1977 and 1992 through matching with death certificates obtained from the National Death Index (NDI). Monthly indices of gaseous ambient air pollutant concentrations (O3, NO2, SO2) were obtained from the California Air Resource Board monitoring stations from 1973-1992, and interpolated to zip code centroids. Cox proportional hazards were used to estimate relative risks (RR) of CHD death associated with an interquartile range (IQR) increase in mean concentrations of each ambient air pollutant averaged over the 5-year period immediately preceding death. The analyses excluded those with prevalent strock at baseline and was controlled for age, pack-years of past cigarette smoking, history of diabetes, history of hypertension, BMI, years of education, and total exercise level. Results: Elevated risk of fatal stroke was found for all gaseous ambient air pollution levels with the highest risk estimates for SO2. Table: ISEE-346
Aging is associated with reduced cellular immunity, which leads to increased rates of infectious ... more Aging is associated with reduced cellular immunity, which leads to increased rates of infectious disease, cancer and autoimmunity in the elderly. Previous findings from our laboratory revealed an age-related decline in sympathetic innervation of immune organs that affects immunity. These studies suggested potential sympathetic nervous system involvement in age-induced immune dysregulation. The purpose of this study was to longitudinally characterize the effects of age on sympathetic neurotransmission in the spleen and net sympathetic activity/tone in male Fischer 344 rats. Splenic sympathetic neurotransmission was evaluated between 8 and 24 months of age by (1) splenic norepinephrine (NE) concentration and turnover, (2) beta-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR) expression and (3) beta-AR-stimulated splenocyte cAMP production. Measures of sympathetic neurotransmission were correlated with age-related changes in Concanavalin A (Con A)-stimulated splenocyte proliferation. Splenic NE turnover increased during middle age, then subsequently declined by 18 months of age compared with 8-month-old controls (young). Splenic NE concentration increased at 10 months and decreased at 18-24 months, compared with young rats; however, plasma NE levels were not affected by age. Plasma epinephrine levels were decreased at 24 months. NE synthesis blockade increased and decreased the rate of plasma catecholamine depletion in middle and old age, respectively. beta-AR-stimulated cAMP production increased in splenocytes by 15 months. An age-related decrease in Con A-induced splenocyte proliferation was apparent by 10 months and persisted through 24 months. The decline in Con A-induced splenocyte proliferation correlated with the age-related increase in cAMP production. Aging alters sympathetic nervous system metabolism in the spleen to affect beta-AR signaling to splenocytes, suggesting that altered sympathetic-immune modulation changes are evident by early middle age.
ABSTRACT Home > November 2006 - Volume 17 - Issue 6 > Zip Codes or Street Addresses... more ABSTRACT Home > November 2006 - Volume 17 - Issue 6 > Zip Codes or Street Addresses? Comparing Ambient Ozone Expos... < Previous Article | Next Article > Epidemiology: November 2006 - Volume 17 - Issue 6 - p S110 ISEE/ISEA 2006 Conference Abstracts Supplement: Session Abstracts: Abstracts Zip Codes or Street Addresses? Comparing Ambient Ozone Exposures for Alternative Spatial Resolutions of Cohort Subjects Soret, S*; Ghamsary, M*; Shavlik, D*; Beeson, W L.*; Chen, L H.*; Wiafe, S*; Press, J†; Knutsen, S* Free Access Article Outline Author Information *School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA; and †University of California, Riverside, CA SM5-PD-03 Back to Top | Article Outline Introduction: Accurate estimation of exposures is of the outmost importance for drawing valid inferences about the spatial relationship of risk factors with health outcomes of concern. In air pollution epidemiology, estimates are often derived from monitoring data. With GIS technology, we can map individuals to their street address rather than to a central location by zip code. Assuming the validity of the spatial interpolation method chosen and the representativeness of exposure data, an independent question remains: Does enhanced positional accuracy of subjects result in reduced exposure misclassification? We compared the estimated ozone exposures assigned to our cohort subjects when their locations are resolved alternatively by zip code centroids and by street addresses.
ABSTRACT The relationship between ambient air pollution and cardiovascular disease is currently a... more ABSTRACT The relationship between ambient air pollution and cardiovascular disease is currently a topic of debate. If there is a relationship, this could have great implications for policy regulations. Methods: To study the health effect of long-term ambient air pollution, a cohort of 6,338 nonsmoking, white California Seventh-day Adventists was followed with respect to health outcomes from 1977. To be included in the study, participants must have lived within 10 miles of their 1977 address for the previous 10 years. At baseline in 1977, a comprehensive lifestyle and diet questionnaire was completed and the cohort was followed with update of residence and workplace in order to assess monthly averages of ambient air pollutants throughout the study period. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, dusts and fumes in the workplaces, and time spent outdoors was assessed through selfadministered questionnaires in 1977, 1987, and again in 1992. The risk of fatal stroke (ICD: 430-438) was ascertained between 1977 and 1992 through matching with death certificates obtained from the National Death Index (NDI). Monthly indices of gaseous ambient air pollutant concentrations (O3, NO2, SO2) were obtained from the California Air Resource Board monitoring stations from 1973-1992, and interpolated to zip code centroids. Cox proportional hazards were used to estimate relative risks (RR) of CHD death associated with an interquartile range (IQR) increase in mean concentrations of each ambient air pollutant averaged over the 5-year period immediately preceding death. The analyses excluded those with prevalent strock at baseline and was controlled for age, pack-years of past cigarette smoking, history of diabetes, history of hypertension, BMI, years of education, and total exercise level. Results: Elevated risk of fatal stroke was found for all gaseous ambient air pollution levels with the highest risk estimates for SO2. Table: ISEE-346
We sought to evaluate and distinguish roles of sociodemographic predictors for delayed- versus ea... more We sought to evaluate and distinguish roles of sociodemographic predictors for delayed- versus early-stage cervical cancer. Demographic variables for 13,624 cervical cancers having complete data for age at diagnosis (4 categories), race and ethnicity (4 categories), socioeconomic status (SES) quintiles, and marital status (3 categories) were extracted from the California Cancer Registry database for the period 1996 to 2005 and analyzed using multiple logistic regression as predictors of delayed- versus early-stage diagnosis. Fifty-eight percent of cervical cancers were among women younger than 50 years, compared with 46% of delayed-stage cases. Independent odds of delayed- versus early-stage cervical cancer were higher for older age categories within each race and ethnic group. Declining odds of delayed- versus early-stage diagnosis were evident for increasing SES quintiles among Asian or other (trend P = .015), non-Hispanic black (P = .024), Hispanic (P = .001), and non-Hispanic white (P = .001) women. Odds of delayed- versus early-stage cervical cancer were highest among unmarried compared with married women. Our findings support evidence that older age, low SES, and unmarried status predict delayed-stage cervical cancer diagnosis in each of the four major race and ethic groups. The two lowest SES quintiles independently identified larger percentages of delayed-stage cervical cancers in each of the race and ethnicity groups assessed, particularly among Hispanic and non-Hispanic black women.
Uploads
Papers by Mark Ghamsary