Association between Leukocyte and Metabolic Syndrome in Urban Han Chinese: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Background

Although cross-sectional studies have shown that leukocyte is linked with metabolic syndrome (MetS), few longitudinal or cohort studies have been used to confirm this relationship. We therefore conducted a large-scale health check-up longitudinal cohort in urban Chinese population from middle to upper socioeconomic strata to investigate and prove the association between the total leukocyte/its subtypes and MetS/its components (obesity, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and hypertension).

Methods

A longitudinal cohort study was established in 2005 on individuals who were middle-to-upper class urban Chinese. Data used in this investigation was based on 6,513 participants who had at least three routine health check-ups over a period of six-year follow-up. Data analysis was conducted through generalized estimating equation (GEE) model.

Results

A total of 255 cases of MetS occurred over the six-year follow-up, leading to a total incidence density of 11.45 per 1,000 person-years (255/22279 person-years). The total leukocyte was markedly associated with MetS (RR = 2.66, 95%CI = 1.81–3.90], p<0.0001) and a dose-response existed. Similar trends can be found in monocytes, lymphocytes, and neutrophils compared with the total leukocyte. The total leukocyte, neutrophil, monocyte and eosinophil levels were strong and independent risk factors to obesity, total leukocyte and neutrophil to dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia, while neither total leukocyte nor its subtypes to hypertension.

Conclusion

Total leukocyte/its subtype were associated with MetS/its components (obesity, dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia), they might provide convenient and useful markers for further risk appraisal of MetS, and be the earlier biomarkers for predicting cardiovascular disease than the components of MetS.     

水稻白叶枯病候选抗性基因SHNLR的RGAs克隆及分析

旨在从含有疣粒野生稻抗白叶枯病基因的新种质SH5、SH76基因组中克隆抗病基因。利用RGAs法得到1个NBS-LRR类同源基因,暂命名为SHNLR(登录号为JF934724)。结果表明,SHNLR的开放阅读框长度为3 105 bp,编码1 034个氨基酸,含有CC、NB-ARC与LRR结构域,具备CC-NBS-LRR类植物抗病基因的结构特征。BLASTn和BLASTp比对显示SHNLR是单拷贝基因,未发现同源性较高且功能已知的基因,仅NBS保守域序列与番茄Prf基因的相似度最高。对SHNLR基因电子定位,发现其位于水稻第11号染色体的长臂末端,但与11号染色体上已定位或克隆的8个白叶枯病抗性基因具有不同序列或处于不同的位置。半定量RT-PCR分析表明,SHNLR在抗病新种质叶片中的表达明显受到白叶枯病菌Zhe173的诱导。因此推测SHNLR可能是1个与抗白叶枯病相关的R基因。     

水稻与白叶枯病菌互作机制研究进展

水稻白叶枯病由Xanthomonas oryzae pv.Oryzae(Xoo)致病菌引起,为水稻三大病害之一,对世界水稻生产造成了严重危害.水稻与Xoo互作符合“基因对基因”假说,是研究植物与细菌互作的典型模式系统.水稻基因组以及Xoo基因组测序的完成,极大地推动了水稻-Xoo互作分子机理的研究.就有关水稻与Xoo互作机制的最新研究进展作一概述.     

Association of SNP Rs9943582 in APLNR with Left Ventricle Systolic Dysfunction in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease in a Chinese Han GeneID Population

Heart failure affects 1–2% of the adult population worldwide and coronary artery disease (CAD) is the underlying etiology of heart failure in 70% of the patients. The pathway of apelin and its apelin receptor (APJ) was implicated in the pathogenesis of heart failure in animal models, but a similar role in humans is unknown. We studied a functional variant, rs9943582 (-154G/A), at the 5’-untranslated region, that was associated with decreased expression of the APJ receptor gene (APLNR) in a population consisting of 1,751 CAD cases and 1,022 controls. Variant rs9943582 was not associated with CAD, but among CAD patients, it showed significant association with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (431 CAD patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LV ejection fraction or LVEF< 40%) versus 1,046 CAD patients without LV systolic dysfunction (LVEF>50%) (P-adj = 6.71×10^-5, OR = 1.43, 95% CI, 1.20–1.70). Moreover, rs9943582 also showed significant association with quantitative echocardiographic parameters, including left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (effect size: increased 1.67±0.43 mm per risk allele A, P = 1.15×10^-4), left atrial size (effect size: increased 2.12±0.61 mm per risk allele A, P = 9.56×10^-4) and LVEF (effect size: decreased 2.59±0.32 percent per risk allele A, P = 7.50×10^-15). Our findings demonstrate that allele A of rs9943582 was significantly associated with left ventricular systolic dysfunction, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, the left atrial diameter and LVEF in the CAD population, which suggests an important role of the apelin/APJ system in the pathology of heart failure associated with ischemic heart disease.     

γ—干扰素和地塞米松对肝素促成纤维细胞增殖的抑制作用

目的和方法 :用MTT比色 ,AgNORs (核仁组成区相关嗜银蛋白 )银染结合图像分析以及抗Ⅲ型胶原单抗免疫组化技术观察了γ 干扰素 (γ IFN)和地塞米松 (Dexa)对成纤维细胞生长的抑制作用。结果和结论 :①培养第 3d ,2 5 0× 10 3u/L的γ IFN和 10 0mg/L的Dexa对正常成纤维细胞生长的抑制率分别为 4 3 %和 3 3 % ;而培养第 5d ,相同浓度的γ IFN对 0 .0 5和 0 .10mg/L肝素刺激的成纤维细胞生长的抑制率分别为 3 4%和 4 0 % ;②照后 3d或5d ,两种抑制剂对肝素刺激的正常和照射成纤维细胞增殖均显示明显抑制作用 ;③ 2 5 0× 10 3u/L的γ IFN和 15 0mg/L的Dexa对成纤维细胞AgNORs合成显示出较强的抑制作用 ,在肝素组其AgNORs颗粒数分别为对照值的60 %和 71% ,而AgNORs 3个定量参数的均值分别为对照值的 61%和 65 % ;④培养第 3d ,上述两种浓度的抑制剂对肝素组Ⅲ型胶原阳性的成纤维细胞抑制率分别为 62 %和 66%。     

A Highly Efficient Method for Construction of Rice Artificial MicroRNA Vectors

Artificial microRNA (amiRNA) has become a powerful tool for gene silencing in plants. A new method for easy and rapid construction of rice artificial miRNA vector is described. The procedure involved modification of the pCAMBIA1300-UR vector by insertion of a ‘vector modification fragment’. This was prepared from the precursor of Os-amiR528 by eliminating the central miRNA-containing region while simultaneously creating an AfeI restriction site. The fragment was then introduced to the destination vector to produce a multipurpose ‘Highly Efficient gene Silencing Compatible vector’ (HESC vector). AfeI was used to produce linearized HESC vectors, and a blunt end PCR product that included amiRNA sequence was cloned into this site by a single ligation reaction to create the completed amiRNA vector. Tests showed that the method was highly efficient, and greatly reduced the time needed for vector construction and resulted in a DNA sequence identical to that of the current method, making it particularly suitable for use in a systems biology approach to functional genomic research.