Role of Vitamin D Supplementation in Hypertension

Role of Vitamin D supplementation was studied in patients with hypertension. One hundred hypertensive patients (group I) were given conventional antihypertensive drugs while another 100 patients (group II), in addition, were supplemented with Vitamin D₃ (33,000 IU, after every 2 weeks, for 3 months). Besides diastolic and systolic blood pressure, serum calcium, phosphorous, alkaline phosphatase, albumin, albumin-corrected calcium, and 24 h urinary creatinine levels were estimated in both the groups before the start of treatment and after 3 months. Vitamin D supplementation showed a more significant decrease in systolic blood pressure. This group also showed a significant increase in serum calcium as well as albumin-corrected calcium with a decrease in phosphorous. Results of the study confirm that Vitamin D supplementation has a role in reducing blood pressure in hypertensive patients and that it should be supplemented with the antihypertensive drugs. More extensive studies with a larger group, to draw a definite conclusion, are in progress.     

Cytokine Gene Polymorphism in Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome Children

The pathogenesis of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome is not completely understood. We postulate that cytokine gene polymorphisms may influence susceptibility or clinical course in Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome. Polymorphisms of IL-4, IL-6, and TNF-α cytokines were investigated in 150 children with Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome and 569 healthy controls by using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. On comparing patient with controls strong association were found for IL-6, TNF-α and IL-4 at allelic level (IL-6-G174C (G vs. C): P = <0.001; OR = 6.33, TNF-α-G308A (G vs. A): P = <0.001; OR = 1.99, IL-4-C590T (C vs. T): P = 0.048; OR = 1.38). Further when SR group was compared with SS group significant association was found at genotypic level in all the studied genetic polymorphisms. Studied cytokine gene polymorphisms may influence susceptibility to idiopathic nephrotic syndrome and might affect steroid response in INS patients.     

Examining agreement and longitudinal stability among traditional and RTI-based definitions of reading disability using the affected-status agreement statistic

Rates of agreement among alternative definitions of reading disability and their 1- and 2-year stabilities were examined using a new measure of agreement, the affected-status agreement statistic. Participants were 288,114 first through third grade students. Reading measures were Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills Oral Reading Fluency and Nonsense Word Fluency, and six levels of severity of poor reading were examined (25th, 20th, 15th, 10th, 5th, and 3rd percentile ranks). Four definitions were compared, including traditional unexpected low achievement and three response-to-intervention-based definitions: low achievement, low growth, and dual discrepancy. Rates of agreement were variable but only poor to moderate overall, with poorest agreement between unexpected low achievement and the other definitions. Longitudinal stability was poor, with poorest stability for the low growth definition. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Colorado longitudinal twin study of reading disability

The primary objectives of the present study are to introduce the Colorado Longitudinal Twin Study of Reading Disability, the first longitudinal twin study in which subjects have been specifically selected for having a history of reading difficulties, and to present some initial assessments of the stability of reading performance and cognitive abilities in this sample. Preliminary examination of the test scores of 124 twins with a history of reading difficulties and 154 twins with no history of reading difficulties indicates that over the 5- to 6-year interval between assessments, cognitive and reading performance are highly stable. As a group, those subjects with a history of reading difficulties had substantial deficits relative to control subjects on all measures at initial assessment, and significant deficits remained at follow-up. The stability noted for all cognitive and achievement measures was highest for a composite measure of reading, whose average stability correlation across groups was 0.80. Results of preliminary behavior genetic analyses for this measure indicated that shared genetic influences accounted for 86% and 49% of the phenotypic correlations between the two assessments for twin pairs with and without reading difficulties, respectively. In addition, genetic correlations reached unity for both groups, suggesting that the same genetic influences are manifested at both time points.     

Componential skills of beginning writing: An exploratory study

The present study examined the components of end of kindergarten writing, using data from 242 kindergartners. Specifically of interest was the importance of spelling, letter writing fluency, reading, and word- and syntax-level oral language skills in writing. The results from structural equation modeling revealed that oral language, spelling, and letter writing fluency were positively and uniquely related to writing skill after accounting for reading skills. Reading skill was not uniquely related to writing once oral language, spelling, and letter writing fluency were taken into account. These findings are discussed from a developmental perspective.