Chromogranin A detection in saliva of type 2 diabetes patients.

Chromogranin A is present in secretion granules of nerve, endocrine and immune cells and is a precursor of several peptides with antibacterial and antifungal properties at micromolar concentrations.Our aim in this prospective, double blind study, was to determine the expression of chromogranin A and its peptides at protein level in saliva of type 2 diabetic patients and thereby to obtain a new non-invasive diagnostic means for the future.Saliva was taken from 30 type 2 diabetic patients and 30 healthy individuals at the same time interval in the morning without any oral stimuli. Circadianic periodics in protein productions have been avoided. The presence of chromogranin A and its derived peptides was determined in whole saliva, after centrifugation at 40C for 12 min at 14 000 rpm, by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis and Immunoblotting (Western Blot). To ensure same protein concentrations Bradford protein quantification assay has been performed before.For the first time, we have determined an overexpression of chromogranin A in saliva of diabetic patients in 100% of the individuals. Chromogranin A, a circulating biomarker for epithelial tumours, is also overexpressed in saliva of type 2 diabetic patients. To confirm our results, more studies with a large amount of patients is necessary.

Cleft lip and palate in Madagascar 1998-2007.

Our aim was to find out the prevalence of oral clefts in Madagascar, to compare it with elsewhere in the world, and to give the possible cause of the particular rate in the Vakinankaratra region where Antsirabe is situated. Data were collected from birth registers from 1998 to 2007 in the 10 most important hospitals of the 6 former provinces and of Antsirabe. A total of 150,973 consecutive live births were recorded in the 6 provinces, and 175,981 including those from Antsirabe. The general birth prevalence of oral clefts was 0.48‰ (about 1/2100, n=150,973) which was made up of 0.23‰, 0.12‰, and 0.11‰ for cleft lip and palate, isolated cleft lip, and isolated cleft palate, respectively. Prevalence was greater on the Central Highlands than in the coastal regions. Higher prevalence rates were found among girls than boys (64.4% compared with 35.6%, p<0.01). Of the clefts, 65.5% were unilateral, and left-sided ones were most common (77.8%). If the results obtained in Antsirabe are also considered, birth prevalence of oral clefts was 0.92‰ (about 1/1100, n=175,981) if Antsirabe is included, and 0.41-0.50‰ in the 6 former provinces; rates of associated, or syndromic, forms, or both, were 21.9% in the 6 provinces and 26.1% in Antsirabe. Overall, the prevalence of oral clefts in Madagascar does not differ from that in the rest of the world, except for the sex difference. There was a high prevalence of oral clefts in general and associated or syndromic forms, or both, in the Vakinankaratra region. There may be a link between these results and background high doses of ionising radiation in some areas because of the presence of former uranium mines. Further research is needed to obtain more precise data.

Is the homozygous region on chromosome 16q12.2 responsible for a fifth mandibular incisor?

The presence of a fifth mandibular incisor, a eumorphic supernumerary tooth, has rarely been described in the literature. Recently we reported on a large Lebanese consanguineous family where 4 individuals displayed 5 mandibular incisors with the same shape and size. This type of familial clustering of the trait has not been previously described. We previously postulated several theories to explain the etiology of this anomaly. The possibility of an autosomal recessive inheritance for this nonsyndromic trait was discussed. We now report the use of homozygosity mapping to identify a homozygous region with different alleles at chromosome 16q12.2, located at the marker D16S415, which likely harbors the gene underlying this anomaly.