BACKGROUND The disorders comprising human 'testicular dysgenesis syndrome' (TDS) may be increasing in incidence. TDS originates in fetal life but the mechanisms are not known, and discerning them requires an animal model. METHODS AND RESULTS The study investigated whether male rats exposed in utero to dibutyl phthalate [DBP; 500 mg/kg on gestational days (GD) 13-21] would provide a suitable m...

Semen Vaccariae is a traditional Chinese herb that is widely used to increase lactation. However, the underlying changes in gene expression that drive the increased milk production by Semen Vaccariae, especially the specific active monomer, remain an open question. Our lab has successfully separated active monomer dibutyl phthalate (DBP) from Semen Vaccariae to study its role in lactation. A mo...

BACKGROUND Epidemiologic evidence supported a role for vitamin D and vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms in cancer risk. Beyond VDR, the biologic effects of vitamin D are mediated by the vitamin D-binding protein (DBP), a key protein in vitamin D metabolism. Furthermore, the gene encoding the DBP (GC, group-specific component) has an important role in the vitamin D pathway. Several studies i...

Actin is an abundant intracellular protein that is released into the blood during tissue injury and its injection into rats causes microthrombi to form in the vasculature. This report and others have shown that actin filaments are able to aggregate platelets in an adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-dependent manner. The effects on this process of two plasma actin-binding proteins, vitamin D-binding pr...

BACKGROUND Current definitions of hypertension are based on levels of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), but not on pulse pressure (PP). We examined whether PP adds useful information for predicting coronary heart disease (CHD) in the population-based Framingham Heart Study. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 1924 men and women between 50 and 79 years of age at base...

Coastal utilities exploiting mildly saline groundwater (<150 mg/L chloride) may be challenged by disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation, a concern likely to increase with sea-level rise. Groundwater from North Carolina coastal aquifers is characterized by large variations in concentrations of halides (bromide up to 10,600 μg/L) and dissolved organic carbon (up to 5.7 mg-C/L). Formation of 33 re...

Background and aims High blood pressure is the heritable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. We investigated whether presence of familial genetic environmental factors are associated with increased high pressure.Methods A total 4,559 individuals from 401 families were included in this study. Familial aggregation analysis was carried out on systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP), body mass index (...

The low-energy vibrational density of states (VDOS) of hydrogenated or deuterated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) plasticized by dibutyl phtalate (DBP) is determined by inelastic neutron scattering. From experiment, it is equal to the sum of the ones of the PMMA and DBP components. However, a partition of the total low-energy VDOS among PMMA and DBP was observed. Contrary to Raman scattering, ...

OBJECTIVES: The main objectives of this project were to (1) conduct a systematic investigation for developing a fundamental understanding of how activated carbons should be tailored for enhanced removal of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from natural waters; and (2) investigate the effectiveness of some carbon tailoring approaches for disinfection by-products (DBP) formation control at typical d...

The effects of prolonged differences in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) on the risks of stroke and of coronary heart disease (CHD) were estimated from nine major prospective observational studies involving about 420,000 men and women who were followed up for intervals of 6-25 years. The results indicate that a prolonged difference of about 6 mm Hg in DBP was associated with approximately 37% few...