Adiponectin gene polymorphisms in Egyptian type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with and without diabetic nephropathy

Recently, several reports addressed the associations of adiponectin (ADIPOQ) gene polymorphisms with abnormal adiponectin serum levels, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and diabetic nephropathy (DN); however, results are inconsistent. This study aimed to investigate the possible association of ADIPOQ gene polymorphisms with T2DM and/or DN and whether they affect serum adiponectin levels in Egyptian population. Two hundred and ninety-six T2DM patients (100 normoalbuminuric patients, 103 microalbuminuric patients, and 93 macroalbuminuric patients) and 209 controls were enrolled in the present study. Polymorphisms of +45, ?11391, and +276 of the ADIPOQ gene were detected using polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism. Serum adiponectin was measured using ELISA. Our results revealed that ADIPOQ +45 TG and GG genotypes and G allele were significantly associated with T2DM, micro/macroalbuminuria, and decreased serum adiponectin level. ADIPOQ ?11391 AA genotype frequency was significantly increased in T2DM group. Moreover, GA and AA genotypes and A allele of ADIPOQ ?11391 were significantly associated with susceptibility to macroalbuminuria despite increased serum adiponectin concentrations. While, ADIPOQ +276 TT genotype and T allele were protective factors regarding the susceptibility to T2DM and micro/macroalbuminuria, and they were significantly associated with increased adiponectin levels. We observed also that the decrease of the serum Adiponectin level was accompanied by an insulin resistance, albuminuria, as well as an increase of serum creatinine. We concluded that ADIPOQ +45; ADIPOQ ?11391 gene polymorphisms are associated with T2DM and/or DN in Egyptian population. While, ADIPOQ +276 gene polymorphism is a protective factor regarding T2DM and/or DN susceptibility.     

ACUTE EFFECTS OF A RESISTED DYNAMIC WARM-UP PROTOCOL ON JUMPING PERFORMANCE

This study aimed to investigate the kinematic and kinetic changes when resistance is applied in horizontal and vertical directions, produced by using different percentages of body weight, caused by jumping movements during a dynamic warm-up. The group of subjects consisted of 35 voluntary male athletes (19 basketball and 16 volleyball players; age: 23.4 ± 1.4 years, training experience: 9.6 ± 2.7 years; height: 177.2 ± 5.7 cm, body weight: 69.9 ± 6.9 kg) studying Physical Education, who had a jump training background and who were training for 2 hours, on 4 days in a week. A dynamic warm-up protocol containing seven specific resistance movements with specific resistance corresponding to different percentages of body weight (2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%) was applied randomly on non consecutive days. Effects of different warm-up protocols were assessed by pre-/post- exercise changes in jump height in the countermovement jump (CMJ) and the squat jump (SJ) measured using a force platform and changes in hip and knee joint angles at the end of the eccentric phase measured using a video camera. A significant increase in jump height was observed in the dynamic resistance warm-up conducted with different percentages of body weight (p < 0.05). On the other hand, no significant difference in different percentages of body weight states was observed (p > 0.05). In jump movements before and after the warm-up, while no significant difference between the vertical ground reaction forces applied by athletes was observed (p > 0.05), in some cases of resistance, a significant reduction was observed in hip and knee joint angles (p < 0.05). The dynamic resistance warm-up method was found to cause changes in the kinematics of jumping movements, as well as an increase in jump height values. As a result, dynamic warm-up exercises could be applicable in cases of resistance corresponding to 6-10% of body weight applied in horizontal and vertical directions in order to increase the jump performance acutely.     

Practice and Attitude of Cigarette Smoking: A Community-Based Study

Background

In Saudi Arabia many studies have addressed cigarette smoking from various perspectives. Most of these studies, however, were conducted among males and confined to Riyadh, the capital city. Such limitations have enhanced the need for community-based epidemiological studies that include both genders and various age groups and socio-demographic features, as well as different regions.

Objective

This cross-sectional study aims to assess the prevalence of cigarette smoking and to discuss the association between cigarette smoking habits and socio-demographic factors among community members of the Jazan area in southwest Saudi Arabia.

Methods

A pre-coded questionnaire was designed and tested for data consistency. A well-trained health team was assigned to gather the data from the 30 primary healthcare centers distributed across eight provinces. The response rate was 92.8% (4,326 respondents ≥13 years old). The associations among the subjects'' socio-demographic characteristics were examined by the chi-square test. A multiple logistic regression and odds ratios were calculated as well.

Results

A total of 1,017 (23.5%), 1,042 (24.1%), and 3,284 (75.9%) respondents were, respectively, current smokers (TCS), ever-smokers (TES), and non-smokers (TNS). Though current smokers seem to be more prevalent in urban populations (13.8%) than in rural populations (9.7%), the association of urbanization with a current smoking habit is insignificant.

Conclusion

Having fun, relieving stress, and the influence of parents, particularly of mothers, were the main motives that encouraged participants'' cigarette-smoking habits. This situation was worsened by the fact that accessing cigarettes was either very easy or easy for over 90% of the respondents.     

Binpairs: Utilization of Illumina Paired-End Information for Improving Efficiency of Taxonomic Binning of Metagenomic Sequences

Motivation

Paired-end sequencing protocols, offered by next generation sequencing (NGS) platforms like Illumia, generate a pair of reads for every DNA fragment in a sample. Although this protocol has been utilized for several metagenomics studies, most taxonomic binning approaches classify each of the reads (forming a pair), independently. The present work explores some simple but effective strategies of utilizing pairing-information of Illumina short reads for improving the accuracy of taxonomic binning of metagenomic datasets. The strategies proposed can be used in conjunction with all genres of existing binning methods.

Results

Validation results suggest that employment of these “Binpairs” strategies can provide significant improvements in the binning outcome. The quality of the taxonomic assignments thus obtained are often comparable to those that can only be achieved with relatively longer reads obtained using other NGS platforms (such as Roche).

Availability

An implementation of the proposed strategies of utilizing pairing information is freely available for academic users at https://metagenomics.atc.tcs.com/binning/binpairs.     

Floral markers and biological activity of Saudi honey

The objectives of this research were to identify certain chemical compounds that may be used as fingerprints of Saudi honey and to evaluate their antioxidant and antibacterial activities. Eleven Saudi ‘monofloral’ honey samples were analyzed and evaluated. Non-phenolic compounds, such as 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one, methyl 3-hydroxyhexanaote and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furancarboxaldehyde were present in different types of tested honey samples. Glyceraldehyde was only detected in five of the honey samples tested. The most promising result was the detection of an alkaloid (by using GC–MS) in only two types of Saudi honey samples. This alkaloid may be of great importance and has the potential to be used as a fingerprint marker for the botanical sources of the various honey samples tested. This alkaloid was present in Toran and Saha. The detected compound is 2-amino-4-hydroxypteridine-6-carboxylic acid, which may originate from the degradation of folic acid as identified by previous studies. These findings can be used as a gateway to obtain a fingerprint for these two types of honey samples and can potentially be used to track any impurities in honey sold on the market. All of the tested honey samples showed antioxidant and antibacterial activities. The highly effective activity was in Toran honey against Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Shafalah honey was effective against MRSA and Acinetobacter baumannii which showed bactericidal effects at concentrations 70–100%. This study also examined the antioxidant activity of honey samples using the DPPH assay. DPPH values of tested honey samples varied between 53.93?±?0.21%, as the highest value and 5.89?±?0.125%, as the lowest value. Significant correlations between the antibacterial and the antioxidant activities of the tested honey samples were noticed. The corresponding total phenolic contents (TPC) values supported the fact that phenolic compounds enhanced the antibacterial activity. The study revealed that some of the locally produced honey samples, specifically Zaitoon, Shaflah, Saha, Rabea Aja and Bareq contained the monosaccharides called glyceraldehydes which was the precursor to produce methylglyoxal (MGO) compound, which has antibacterial effects as documented in several previous studies. There was no clear relationship between these activities and the sum total of phenolic compounds present in Saudi honey.     

Validated spectrofluorimetric method for determination of two phosphodiesterase inhibitors tadalafil and vardenafil in pharmaceutical preparations and spiked human plasma

A valid, sensitive and rapid spectrofluorimetric method has been developed and validated for determination of both tadalafil (TAD) and vardenafil (VAR) either in their pure form, in their tablet dosage forms or spiked in human plasma. This method is based on measurement of the native fluorescence of both drugs in acetonitrile at λ_em 330 and 470 nm after excitation at 280 and 275 nm for tadalafil and vardenafil, respectively. Linear relationships were obtained over the concentration range 4–40 and 10–250 ng/mL with a minimum detection of 1 and 3 ng/mL for tadalafil and vardenafil, respectively. Various experimental parameters affecting the fluorescence intensity were carefully studied and optimized. The developed method was applied successfully for the determination of tadalafil and vardenafil in bulk drugs and tablet dosage forms. Moreover, the high sensitivity of the proposed method permitted their determination in spiked human plasma. The developed method was validated in terms of specificity, linearity, lower limit of quantification (LOQ), lower limit of detection (LOD), precision and accuracy. The mean recoveries of the analytes in pharmaceutical preparations were in agreement with those obtained from the comparison methods, as revealed by statistical analysis of the obtained results using Student's t‐test and the variance ratio F‐test. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of selenium in amelioration of heat-induced oxidative damage in cucumber under high temperature stress

High temperature is an environmental stress which destroys agricultural crops and inhibits their growth and productivity. The aim of current investigation was to examine the role of selenium (Se) on cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) cv. Sahil plant growth, physio-biochemical and yield attributes under heat stress (HS) in controlled conditions. Plants were grown under normal temperature (NT; 28/18 °C day/night) from sowing to 32 days after sowing (DAS). All plants were foliar-sprayed with Se (8 µM) at flower-initiation stage (32-DAS) and heat stress (HS; 40/30 °C day/night) was induced from 35-DAS to entire duration of the experiment (75-DAS). Data regarding growth, physio-biochemical and yield traits were measured. Heat stress decreased growth traits, total chlorophyll contents, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, photosynthesis (Pn), stomatal conductance (g _s), transpiration rate (E), antioxidant enzyme activities, membrane stability index (MSI) and yield-related attributes, while increased intercellular CO₂ (Ci), ROS production, lipid peroxidation (LPO), non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) and compatible solutes. Exogenous application of Se mitigated HS-induced injurious effects by improving growth components, Pn, g _s, E, chlorophyll content, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, antioxidant enzyme activities, level of osmolytes, MSI and yield attributes and reducing ROS, LPO and NPQ. Selenium reversed heat-induced oxidative damage by strengthening antioxidative mechanism, which resulted in higher scavenging of ROS, thereby minimizing LPO. It is suggested that Se-induced improvement in Pn, growth and productivity associated traits under HS is linked with enhanced antioxidant activities and osmolytes accumulation. In addition, Se applied at flower initiation is highly effective in alleviating heat damage in cucumber.     

Dermatoglyphic traits in patients with cardiovascular disorders

Dermatoglyphic studies were carried out on 800 Japanese subjects. Digital dermal pattern types were classified into true whorls, double loops, ulnar loops, radial loops and arches. Both total and absolute ridge count were recorded. Subjects with hypertension, angina pectoris and myocardial infarction were compared with the remaining group of others who had not yet developed any of these disorders. Individuals with myocardial infarction had a significantly higher frequency of true whorls and a correspondingly lower frequency of ulnar loops than the control group. Total and absolute ridge counts were also significantly higher in myocardial infarction. Individuals with hypertension and angina pectoris were not significantly different in most dermatoglyphic traits from the controls. These observations suggest that antenatal factors may contribute to the etiology of myocardial infarction in man.     

Synthesis and In Vitro Antitumor Activity of New Substituted Thiopyrimidine Acyclic Nucleosides and Their Thioglycoside Analogs

Some new thiopyrimidine acyclic nucleosides and thioglycoside derivatives 3a-c, 4a-c, 6a,b, and 7a,b were synthesized. The cytotoxicity and antitumor evaluation of all prepared compounds have been tested in vitro against Ehrlich's ascites carcinoma cell line and their activity against glutathione peroxidase and catalase were reported. The role of the prepared compounds as free radical regulators and the therapeutic antitumor effect of a balanced generation of free radicals are discussed. Compounds 2, 3b, 3c, 4a, and 4c inhibited significantly in a dose dependent manner the growth of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells while the other compounds did not show any antitumor activity even at higher concentrations.