Renal function and risk factors of moderate to severe chronic kidney disease in Golestan Province, northeast of Iran

Introduction

The incidence of end-stage renal disease is increasing worldwide. Earlier studies reported high prevalence rates of obesity and hypertension, two major risk factors of chronic kidney disease (CKD), in Golestan Province, Iran. We aimed to investigate prevalence of moderate to severe CKD and its risk factors in the region.

Methods

Questionnaire data and blood samples were collected from 3591 participants (≥18 years old) from the general population. Based on serum creatinine levels, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was estimated.

Results

High body mass index (BMI) was common: 35.0% of participants were overweight (BMI 25–29.9) and 24.5% were obese (BMI ≥30). Prevalence of CKD stages 3 to 5 (CKD–S3-5), i.e., GFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m², was 4.6%. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for the risk of CKD–S3-5 associated with every year increase in age was 1.13 (1.11–1.15). Men were at lower risk of CKD–S3-5 than women (OR = 0.28; 95% CI 0.18–0.45). Obesity (OR = 1.78; 95% CI 1.04–3.05) and self-reported diabetes (OR = 1.70; 95% CI 1.00–2.86), hypertension (OR = 3.16; 95% CI 2.02–4.95), ischemic heart disease (OR = 2.73; 95% CI 1.55–4.81), and myocardial infarction (OR = 2.69; 95% CI 1.14–6.32) were associated with increased risk of CKD–S3-5 in the models adjusted for age and sex. The association persisted for self-reported hypertension even after adjustments for BMI and history of diabetes (OR = 2.85; 95% CI 1.77–4.59).

Conclusion

A considerable proportion of inhabitants in Golestan have CKD–S3-5. Screening of individuals with major risk factors of CKD, in order to early detection and treatment of impaired renal function, may be plausible. Further studies on optimal risk prediction of future end-stage renal disease and effectiveness of any screening program are warranted.     

Sulfonamide-1,2,4-triazole derivatives as antifungal and antibacterial agents: synthesis, biological evaluation, lipophilicity, and conformational studies

A series of 10 new 5-[2-(substituted sulfamoyl)-4,5-dimethoxy-benzyl]-4aryl-s-triazole-3-thiones were synthesized and evaluated for in vitro antifungal and antibacterial activity. All compounds tested showed significant antifungal activity against all the micromycetes, compared to the commercial fungicide bifonazole. Differences in their activity depend on the substitution of different reactive groups. More specifically, best antifungal activity among synthetic analogues was shown with N-dimethylsulfamoyl group. All the compounds tested against bacteria showed the same activity as the commercial agent streptomycin, except for Enterobacter cloacce and Salmonella species. Chloramphenicol showed lower bactericidal effect than the synthetic compounds. Furthermore, it is apparent that different compounds reacted in different ways against bacteria. Gram (-) bacteria seem to be more sensitive to these compounds than Gram (+) species. An effort was made to correlate the above-mentioned differences in activity with lipophilicity studies. Furthermore, molecular modeling was used to obtain the main conformational features of this class of molecules for future structure-activity relationship studies.     

Cytokine response following transthoracic and transhiatal esophagectomy in patients with esophageal cancer

Curative esophageal resection is usually performed using either a transthoracic (TT) or transhiatal (TH) approach. Forty patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent esophagectomies (24 TT and 16 TH), 12 patients who underwent surgery for gastric cancer, and 16 healthy individuals were enrolled in this study. Blood samples were taken from the patients, pre- and post-surgery. The levels of synthesis of T-helper 1 and 2 cytokines were assessed in vitro in the presence of mitogen. Our initial data indicated that at admission, 24 h before surgery, blood cells from both groups of esophageal cancer patients produced significantly lower levels of the Th1 cytokines, IFN-gamma and IL-2 than those from cells of healthy donors. Cells collected from gastric cancer patients prior to surgery produced intermediate levels of IFN-gamma and IL-2: significantly lower than healthy donors, and slightly more (non-significant) than esophageal cancer patients. These results contrast with those for the production of Th2 cytokines prior to surgery, which did not differ significantly between any groups: either the esophageal or gastric cancer patients, or healthy donors. Th1 and Th2 cytokine production was then studied using blood cells collected seven days after surgery. Cells from both groups of esophageal cancer patients, undergoing either TT or TH surgery, produced significantly lower levels of the Th1 cytokines, IFN-gamma and IL-2 than those from cells of gastric cancer patients who had undergone surgery. Postoperative and preoperative production was compared. For patients who had undergone TT esophageal resection, we observed that the post-operative production of IL-2, IL-5 and IL-13 was significantly lower than the pre-operative production of those cytokines. Such reduced post-operative compared to pre-operative production was only significant in patients who had undergone TT esophagectomy. A similar, but non-significant trend was observed in patients who had undergone either TH esophagectomy, or gastrectomy. The results indicate that digestive tract cancer patients, both esophageal and gastric, have (prior to surgery), a significantly reduced, basal, mitogen-induced production of Th1 but not of Th2 cytokine. Post-operatively, a significantly reduced production of Th1 and Th2 cytokines, except for IFN-gamma, was observed only in patients who had undergone surgical esophageal resection using the TT method.     

Reaction pattern of mitochondrial antibodies of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is species specific but not organ specific

The cross reactivity of a well-characterized PBC serum was studied with mitochondria from a number of sources. These studies were to establish the nonorgan, species specificity of the reaction of PBC sera. As well as confirming some previously reported data, we have strong evidence suggesting that, in spite of species differences inM _r of the major antigenic bands, all mitochondria contain a set of common cross-reactive epitopes. The multiplicity of antigenic bands seen for mitochondria from some sources are shown to arise, in part, as proteolytically derived artefacts of bands of higherM _r , retaining some antigenic reactivity.     

Influence of GSTO2 (N142D) genetic polymorphism on acute renal rejection

Acute renal allograft rejection remains an important problem following kidney transplantation. Several immunological and non-immunological factors intervene in renal graft rejection. Glutathione S-transferase super family is one of the important enzymes for biotransformation of both exogenous and endogenous xenobiotic compounds such as immunosuppressive drugs. The new class of this family is omega that includes two subunits GSTO1 and GSTO2. In this study 282 samples were collected from renal recipients of Namazi hospital in Shiraz-Iran during 2007–2010 years. Also 300 healthy samples as control group were collected from Shiraz population, included in our study. The primary outcome of this study was defined as biopsy-proven acute rejection during 1 year of renal transplantation. We applied polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism method for determination of GSTO2 N142D polymorphism. Our result showed no significant association between GSTO2 polymorphism and acute rejection. Also this genetic variant has no significant effect with the risk of end stage renal disease. Cadaveric donor type for acute rejection significantly differed between acute rejection and non acute rejection patients (P = 0.004). The combination effect of donor type and GSTO2 polymorphism indicates DD genotype with cadaver donor type increase risk of acute rejection (OR = 3.82, 95 % CI 1.80–12.37, P = 0.02).     

Facile regioselective synthesis of novel bioactive thiazolyl-pyrazoline derivatives via a three-component reaction and their antimicrobial activity

A series of novel 2-(3,5-diphenyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-4-phenylthiazoles have been prepared by a three-component cyclo-condensation of various chalcones, thiosemicarbazide and phenacyl bromide. The easy work-up of the products, rapid reaction, and mild conditions are notable features of this protocol. The reaction was efficiently catalyzed in one-pot by a few drops of HCl in EtOH under reflux conditions providing the title compounds in moderate to high yields. The antibacterial activity of the selected products was examined. Some products exhibit promising activities.     

Transglutaminase 2 expression in acute myeloid leukemia: Association with adhesion molecule expression and leukemic blast motility

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogenous disease with differential oncogene association, outcome and treatment regimens. Treatment strategies for AML have improved outcome but despite increased molecular biological information AML is still associated with poor prognosis. Proteomic analysis on the effects of a range of leukemogenic oncogenes showed that the protein transglutaminase 2 (TG2) is expressed at greater levels as a consequence of oncogenic transformation. Further analysis of this observation was performed with 511 AML samples using reverse phase proteomic arrays, demonstrating that TG2 expression was higher at relapse than diagnosis in many cases. In addition elevated TG2 expression correlated with increased expression of numerous adhesion proteins and many apoptosis regulating proteins, two processes related to leukemogenesis. TG2 has previously been linked to drug resistance in cancer and given the negative correlation between TG2 levels and peripheral blasts observed increased TG2 levels may lead to the protection of the leukemic stem cell due to increased adhesion/reduced motility. TG2 may therefore form part of a network of proteins that define poor outcome in AML patients and potentially offer a target to sensitize AML stem cells to drug treatment.     

Crataegus grossidentata sp. nov. (Rosaceae–Pyreae), a new hawthorn from northern Iran

Crataegus grossidentata Sharifnia & K. I. Chr., found in northern Iran, is described and illustrated as a species new to science. Its ecology, distribution and taxonomic relationships are discussed. A key to C. grossidentata and other one‐styled taxa of Crataegus occurring in Iran is provided.     

Retrotransposon Insertional Polymorphism in Iranian Bread Wheat Cultivars and Breeding Lines Revealed by IRAP and REMAP Markers

Inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphisms (IRAPs) and retrotransposon-microsatellite amplified polymorphisms (REMAPs) were used to detect retrotransposon integration events and genetic diversity in 101 Iranian bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars and breeding lines. The 9 IRAP primers amplified 128 loci, and 20 REMAP primers amplified 263 loci. Percentage of polymorphic loci, average expected heterozygosity, number of effective alleles, and Shannon’s information index for the REMAP markers were slightly higher than those for the IRAP markers. The same estimated parameters calculated for native and nonnative retrotransposons were not considerably different. A Mantel test between IRAP and REMAP cophenetic matrices evidenced no significant correlation. Cluster analysis based on the Dice similarity coefficient and complete linkage algorithm using IRAP+REMAP loci identified five groups among the genotypes studied that could be applied as crossing parents in T. aestivum breeding programs.