Fish intake interacts with TM6SF2 gene variant to affect NAFLD risk: results of a case-control study.

PURPOSE: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a complex disease, resulting from a variety of genetic and environmental factors. The aim of this case-control study was to evaluate the effect of selected genetic polymorphisms, nutrition aspects and their interaction on the risk of NAFLD. METHODS: The sample consisted of 134 patients with NAFLD and 217 controls. Disease was diagnosed by liver ultrasound and volunteers were clinically and nutritionally assessed. Food groups were extracted from a 172 food-item FFQ questionnaire. Three genetic polymorphisms were assessed: PNPLA3 rs738409, TM6SF2 rs58542926 and GCKR rs780094. RESULTS: We replicated the effect of previously reported risk factors for NAFLD, such as elevated liver enzymes, obesity and metabolic syndrome. Food groups rich in simple sugars, fat and especially saturated fat were positively associated with NAFLD risk, whereas food groups rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids were reversely associated with the possibility of developing the disease (p < 0.05). Only the PNPLA3 genetic variant was statistically significantly associated with the disease (padditive = 0.015). However, it was found that a one-portion increase in fish intake increased the risk of NAFLD in carriers of the risk allele of TM6SF2 rs58542926 polymorphism compared to non-carriers, after adjusting for age, gender, energy intake, pack-years, PAL, TM6SF2 genotype and fish consumption (ORdominant = 1.503, 95% CI 1.094-2.064). CONCLUSIONS: Fish intake exerts an additive effect on NAFLD risk for carriers of the TM6SF2 polymorphism. This novel finding provides further rationale on the need for personalized nutritional advice, based on the genetic background of NAFLD patients.

Lifestyle may modify the glucose-raising effect of genetic loci. A study in the Greek population.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Lifestyle habits including dietary intake and physical activity are closely associated with multiple body processes including glucose metabolism and are known to affect human health. Recent genome-wide association studies have identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with glucose levels. The hypothesis tested here is whether a healthy lifestyle assessed via a score is associated with glycaemic traits and whether there is an interaction between the lifestyle and known glucose-raising genetic variants in association with glycaemic traits. METHODS AND RESULTS: Participants of Greek descent from the THISEAS study were included in this analysis. We developed a glucose preventive score (GPS) including dietary and physical activity characteristics. We also modelled a weighted genetic risk score (wGRS), based on 20 known glucose-raising loci, in order to investigate the impact of lifestyle-gene interaction on glucose levels. The GPS was observed to be significantly associated with lower glucose concentrations (ß ± SE: -0.083 ± 0.021 mmol/L, P = 1.6 × 10(-04)) and the wGRS, as expected, with increased glucose levels (ß ± SE: 0.020 ± 0.007 mmol/L, P = 8.4 × 10(-3)). The association of the wGRS with glucose levels was attenuated after interaction with the GPS. A higher GPS indicated decreasing glucose levels in the presence of an increasing wGRS (ß interaction ± SE: -0.019 ± 0.007 mmol/L, P = 0.014). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that lower glucose levels underlie a healthier lifestyle and also support an interaction between the wGRS for known glycaemic loci and GPS associated with lower glucose levels. These scores could be useful tools for monitoring glucose metabolism.

Prevalence and susceptibility of Saccharomyces cerevisiae causing vaginitis in Greek women.

UNLABELLED: Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an ascomycetous yeast, that is traditionally used in wine bread and beer production. Vaginitis caused by S. cerevisiae is rare. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of S. cerevisiae isolation from the vagina in two groups of women and determined the in vitro susceptibility of this fungus. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Vaginal samples were collected from a total of 262 (asymptomatic and symptomatic) women with vaginitis attending the centre of family planning of General hospital of Piraeus. All blastomycetes that isolated from the vaginal samples were examined for microscopic morphological tests and identified by conventional methods: By API 20 C AUX and ID 32 C (Biomerieux). Antifungal susceptibility testing for amphotericin B,fluconazole itraconazole,voriconazole, posaconazole and caspofungin was performed by E -test (Ab BIODIKS SWEDEN) against S. cerevisiae. RESULTS: A total of 16 isolates of S. cerevisiae derived from vaginal sample of the referred women, average 6.10%. Susceptibility of 16 isolates of S. cerevisiae to a variety of antimycotic agents were obtained. So all isolates of S. cerevisiae were resistant to fluconazole, posaconazole and intraconazole, but they were sensitive to voriconazole caspofungin and Amphotericin B which were found sensitive (except 1/16 strains). None of the 16 patients had a history of occupational domestic use of baker's yeast. CONCLUSIONS: Vaginitis caused by S. cerevisiae occur, is rising and cannot be ignored. Treatment of Saccharomyces vaginitis constitutes a major challenge and may require selected and often prolonged therapy.

Prevalence of iron deficiency among schoolchildren of different socio-economic status in urban Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of iron deficiency among schoolchildren of different socio-economic status (SES), living in the three largest cities of Turkey. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTINGS: Primary schools of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. SUBJECTS: Schoolchildren aged 12 and 13 y (males: 504; females: 510) from nine primary schools. Inclusion of subjects in the study was on a voluntary basis. METHODS: Data were obtained on children SES, anthropometry, haematological and biochemical indices of iron status and consumption of food items related to dietary iron bioavailability. One-way analysis of variance was mainly applied, for the evaluation of the tested hypotheses, using Bonferroni correction in order to take into account the inflation of Type I error. RESULTS: Iron deficiency (serum ferritin <15 microg/l) prevalence was 17.5% among boys and 20.8% among girls. Furthermore, iron deficiency was significantly more prevalent among boys of lower SES, who were also found to have significantly lower levels of serum iron, serum ferritin, transferrin saturation, mean corpuscular haemoglobin and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration compared to those of higher SES. In terms of dietary factors affecting iron bioavailability, low SES boys exhibited significantly higher frequency of tea consumption and lower frequency of citrus fruit, red meat and fish consumption, compared to their higher SES counterparts. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of iron deficiency was relatively high, particularly among lower SES schoolboys. Higher tea and lower citrus fruits, red meat and fish consumption by boys of lower SES may provide an indication about the possible role of certain dietary patterns in the different manifestation of this medical condition among the socio-economic groups. However, further research is needed.

Determination of the electron escape depth for NEXAFS spectroscopy.

A novel method was developed to determine carbon atom density as a function of depth by analyzing the postedge signal in near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra. We show that the common assumption in the analysis of NEXAFS data from polymer films, namely, that the carbon atom density is constant as a function of depth, is not valid. This analysis method is then used to calculate the electron escape depth (EED) for NEXAFS in a model bilayer system that contains a perfluorinated polyether (PFPE) on top of a highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG) sample. Because the carbon atom densitites of both layers are known, in addition to the PFPE surface layer thickness, the EED is determined to be 1.95 nm. This EED is then used to measure the thickness of the perfluorinated surface layer of poly(4-(1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyl)oxymethylstyrene) (PFPS).

Post-transcriptional regulators in inflammation: exploring new avenues in biological therapeutics.

The biosynthesis of inflammatory mediators relies on controlling the biogenesis and utilization of their corresponding messenger RNAs (mRNAs). These latter "utilization steps" encompass post-transcriptional mechanisms that gradually and variably impose a series of flexible-rate limiting controls to modify the abundance of an mRNA and the rate of its translation to protein in response to environmental signals. Mechanistically, post-transcriptional machines comprise networks of RNA binding proteins (RBPs), which recognize, passively or inducibly, secondary or tertiary ribonucleotide structures located on their target RNAs. The outcome of these interactions is the stringent control of mRNA maturation, localization, turnover and translation. It is conceivable that if these post-transcriptional interactions fail, they may perturb cellular re-sponses to provide the impetus for chronic disease. Such is the case of the signal-responsive mechanisms affecting inflammatory mRNAs containing the AU-rich family of elements (AREs), which are recognized by a specific subset of RBPs. Intense research in this area has yielded important insight on the specific signals and mechanisms affecting the utilization of ARE-containing mRNAs. Here, we indicate briefly the inflammatory relevance of ARE-related mechanisms to highlight their importance in pathophysiology and their potential in the development of future biological therapies.

Use of erythropoietin and its effects on blood lactate and 2, 3-diphosphoglycerate in premature neonates.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHu-EPO) on oxygen affinity and adequate oxygen delivery to the tissues of stable premature infants. 36 very-low-birth-weight infants were randomly assigned to either receive rHu-EPO (200 units/kg every other day) or not, and both groups were supplemented with iron, folic acid and vitamin E. Arterial blood gases, oxygen saturation, complete blood counts, fetal haemoglobin, 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) and blood lactate were analysed weekly, from the 1st week till discharge. Patients in the two groups were comparable. There was a trend in increasing lactate values towards the 4th to 5th weeks of life, which did not reach statistical significance. There was no correlation between lactate values and the studied variables (pH, BE, oxygen saturation). In 35 transfusions, pre- and 24 h post-transfusion blood lactate status was studied. In 23 of them, a decrease in post-transfusion lactate was noticed, whilst an increased post-transfusion level was shown in 10 cases and no change in 2 cases. The mean pre-transfusion lactate value was significantly higher than the post-transfusion one (24.04 +/- 11.9 mg/dl before and 16.27 +/- 8.5 mg/dl after transfusion; p = 0.0025). In both groups there was a steady rise in 2,3-DPG concentration over the period of study, and the 2,3-DPG values at the end of our study were significantly increased in the rHu-EPO group (rHu-EPO 5.98 +/- 0.9, control 4.84 +/- 0.7; p = 0.04). In conclusion, the use of rHu-EPO did not affect blood lactate levels compared to the control group. Regarding oxygen affinity, it seems that rHu-EPO causes a shift of the oxy-haemoglobin dissociation curve to the right. This is a previously unreported effect of rHu-EPO and its clinical use may, thus, confer to preterm babies an added advantage.