The purpose of this agreement is to fund the drawing, transporting, processing and analysis of blood specimens from the Framingham Heart Study cohort in Examination Cycle 22 and the collection of bioelectric impedance data from the members of the Framingham Heart Study cohort in Examination Cycle 22. Data collection in Framingham is moving along well. The measurement of cytokine levels in mononuclear cells at Tufts, levels of inflammatory proteins and associated other biochemistries has been successful. Methodologic work over the year suggests that the delay of an hour in laboratory processing while the specimens are being transported has some effect on the measurements but that data from healthy younger persons in Framingham should allow some adjustment. Preliminary data on both stimulated and unstimulated levels of IL-1, TNF and IL-6 shows fairly normal distributions of secretors and non- secretors for each cytokine. Preliminary analyses are ongoing and data collection should be complete this fall.
