Our data suggest that the IL-4 promoter C-590T polymorphism may be associated with the development of asthma in Japanese children, but not through modulating total serum IgE levels.

We found that cognitive impairment was one of the predictors for poor compliance among the elderly who are functionally independent in the community. Intentional noncompliance was the strongest predictor for poor compliance, which was influenced by the relationship between patient and physician. Physicians should establish good communication with their elderly patients and provide some support to compensate for cognitive impairment.

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The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of single nucleotide polymorphism 3 (SNP3) of the apolipoprotein A-V ( APOA5) gene on the serum triglyceride (TG) level in Japanese schoolchildren. To determine the frequency of the genotype, we analyzed 552 schoolchildren. The frequencies of the T/T, T/C and C/C genotypes of the APOA5 gene were 225 (40.8%), 263 (47.6%) and 64 (11.6%), respectively. The serum TG level was significantly different among the genotypic groups after adjustments for age, gender and obesity index (T/T 71.6+/-34.8 mg/dl, T/C 80.7+/-36.1 mg/dl, C/C 94.4+/-69.4 mg/dl, P<0.0001). The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for hypertriglyceridemia of the C allele was 2.4 (1.0-6.2). Our data suggested that the T/C promoter region polymorphism of the APOA5 gene appears to be a genetic risk factor for hypertriglyceridemia in Japanese children.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether Trp64Arg polymorphism of the b b 3 -adrenergic receptor (b b 3 -AR) gene and Gln223Arg polymorphism of the leptin receptor (Ob-R) gene are associated with obesity in Japanese schoolchildren. DESIGN: Population study of participants from a rural town located within 50 km northeast of Tokyo based on school medical examinations. SUBJECTS: 553 Japanese schoolchildren (291 boys and 262 girls) who were 9 ± 15 y old with a mean age of 11.9 AE 1.8 y. MEASUREMENTS: DNA was extracted from whole blood and genotyped by PCR-RFLP. Height, weight and blood pressure were measured in school medical examinations. Total cholesterol, triglyceride and HDL-cholesterol concentrations were measured by an autoanalyzer. Obesity index, body mass index (BMI) and LDL-cholesterol concentration were calculated by the respective formulae. RESULTS: In Trp64Arg polymorphism of the b b 3 -AR gene, the number of obese subjects with TrpaArg or ArgaArg genotypes was signi®cantly higher than that of the non-obese subjects (w w 2 5.79, P 0.02). The obesity index of subjects with the ArgaArg or ArgaTrp genotype was signi®cantly higher than that of those with the TrpaTrp genotype (8.2 AE 18.7% vs 4.5 AE 15.8%, P 0.04). Moreover, after adjustments for age and gender, BMI of subjects with the TrpaArg or ArgaArg genotype was signi®cantly higher than that of those with the TrpaTrp genotype (19.4 AE 3.6 kgam 2 vs 18.9 AE 3.2 kgam 2 , P 0.02). However, no signi®cant differences were observed in the clinical characteristics among the genotype groups of the Ob-R gene. CONCLUSIONS: Trp64Arg polymorphism of the b b 3 -AR gene appears to be a genetic risk factor for obesity in Japanese children, but Gln223Arg polymorphism of the Ob-R gene does not appear to be associated with obesity.