The prevalence of pre-hypertension and its association to established cardiovascular risk factors in south of Iran

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Pre-hypertension is associated with an increased risk of the development of hypertension and subsequent cardiovascular disease and raises mortality risk. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of pre-hypertension and to explore the associations between pre-hypertension and established cardiovascular risk factors in a population-based sample of Iranian adults. Methods: In this cross-sectional study a representative sample of 892 participants aged [greater than or equal to]30 years was selected using a multistage cluster sampling method. After completion of a detailed demographic and medical questionnaire (gender, age, history of diabetes mellitus and hypertension, taking antihypertensive or hypoglycemic agents and history of smoking), all participants were subjected to physical examination, blood lipid profile, blood glucose, anthropometric and smoking assessments, during the years 2009 and 2010. Variables were considered significant at a p-value [less than or equal to] 0.05. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 11.5 software. RESULTS: Pre-hypertension was observed among 300 (33.7%) subjects, 36.4% for men and 31.4% for women (p > 0.05). The pre-hypertensive group had higher levels of blood glucose and triglycerides, higher body mass index and lower percentage of smoking than did the normotensive group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that obesity and overweight were the strongest predictors of pre-hypertension [odds ratio, 2.74: 95% CI (Confidence Interval), 1.62 to 4.62 p<0.001; odds ratio, 2.56, 95% CI, 1.74 to 3.77, p<0.001 respectively].Conclusions: Overweight and obesity has become important in the association with pre-hypertension in Iranian population. Primary prevention strategies should concentrate on reducing overweight and obesity if the prevalence of pre-hypertension is to be diminished in Iranian adults. Key words: pre-hypertension, cardiovascular risk factor, obesity, BMI.     

Eukaryote-Conserved Methylarginine Is Absent in Diplomonads and Functionally Compensated in Giardia

Methylation is a common posttranslational modification of arginine and lysine in eukaryotic proteins. Methylproteomes are best characterized for higher eukaryotes, where they are functionally expanded and evolved complex regulation. However, this is not the case for protist species evolved from the earliest eukaryotic lineages. Here, we integrated bioinformatic, proteomic, and drug-screening data sets to comprehensively explore the methylproteome of Giardia duodenalis—a deeply branching parasitic protist. We demonstrate that Giardia and related diplomonads lack arginine-methyltransferases and have remodeled conserved RGG/RG motifs targeted by these enzymes. We also provide experimental evidence for methylarginine absence in proteomes of Giardia but readily detect methyllysine. We bioinformatically infer 11 lysine-methyltransferases in Giardia, including highly diverged Su(var)3-9, Enhancer-of-zeste and Trithorax proteins with reduced domain architectures, and novel annotations demonstrating conserved methyllysine regulation of eukaryotic elongation factor 1 alpha. Using mass spectrometry, we identify more than 200 methyllysine sites in Giardia, including in species-specific gene families involved in cytoskeletal regulation, enriched in coiled-coil features. Finally, we use known methylation inhibitors to show that methylation plays key roles in replication and cyst formation in this parasite. This study highlights reduced methylation enzymes, sites, and functions early in eukaryote evolution, including absent methylarginine networks in the Diplomonadida. These results challenge the view that arginine methylation is eukaryote conserved and demonstrate that functional compensation of methylarginine was possible preceding expansion and diversification of these key networks in higher eukaryotes.     

Organ-specific or personalized treatment for COVID-19: rationale,evidence, and potential candidates

Functional & Integrative Genomics - Although extrapulmonary manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are increasingly reported, no effective therapeutic strategy for these...