The current study in which Doris Duke Trainees participate is an outgrowth of the grant from The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to the University of Texas Southwestern (http://www2.swmed.edu/humannutrition/Features/reynolds.htm).
The UT Southwestern Reynolds Center began operation on 10/1/99. The purpose of the Center is to develop new measures that reduce death and disability from atherosclerotic heart disease (ASHD) and its major complications, in particular left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and heart failure. Central themes include: gene-environment interactions in the pathobiology of ASHD and LVH; control of hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia; ethnic differences in risk for ASHD and LVH; and technological innovations pertinent to these clinical research issues. One of the major components of the Reynolds Center is The Dallas Heart Disease Prevention Project (DHDPP): A random, multiethnic population data base is being developed by testing of 7000 individuals aged 18-65 from Dallas County. Subjects are being characterized with respect to medical history, family history, blood pressure, fasting lipoproteins and other plasma constituents, EKG, MRI to assess cardiac mass and geometry, MRI to assess regional body fat, electron beam CT (EBCT) to assess coronary calcification, DEXA scanning to determine body fat content and fat distribution, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of the liver to determine liver fat content. DNA will be banked from each subject for genotyping. Selected individuals from this population who manifest specific phenotypes will be asked to participate in one or more sub-studies that are funded by the original grant, and that call for additional detailed testing, in some cases including admission to the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC). Importantly, this population database is intended also to serve as a resource for additional studies to be proposed subsequently, and funded from other sources.