Association between CYP4A11 and EPHX2 genetic polymorphisms and chronic kidney disease progression in hypertensive patients.

BACKGROUND: There are evidence indicating that some metabolites of arachidonic acid produced by cytochromes P450 (CYP) and epoxide hydroxylase (EPHX2), such as hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs), epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) or dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acids (DHETEs), play an important role in blood pressure regulation and they could contribute to the development of hypertension (HT) and kidney damage. Therefore, the main aim of the study was to evaluate whether the genetic polymorphisms of CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2J2, CYP4F2, CYP4F11 and EPHX2, responsible for the formation of HETEs, EETs and DHETEs, are related to the progression of impaired renal function in a group of patients with hypertension. METHODS: 151HT patients from a hospital nephrology service were included in the study. Additionally, a group of 87 normotensive subjects were involved in the study as control group. For HT patients, a general biochemistry analysis, estimated glomerular filtration rate and genotyping for different CYPs and EPHX2 variant alleles was performed. RESULTS: CYP4A11 rs3890011, rs9332982 and EPHX2 rs41507953 polymorphisms, according to the dominant model, presented a high risk of impaired kidney function, with odds ratios (OR) of 2.07 (1.00-4.32; P=0.049) 3.02 (1.11-8.23; P=0.030) and 3.59 (1.37-9.41; P=0.009), respectively, and the EPHX2 rs1042032 polymorphism a greater risk according to the recessive model (OR=6.23; 95% CI=1.50-25.95; P=0.007). However, no significant differences in allele frequencies between HT patients and in normotensive subjects for any of the SNP analysed. In addition, the patients with diagnosis of dyslipidemia (n=90) presented higher frequencies of EPHX2 K55R (rs41507953) and *35A>G (rs1042032) variants than patients without dyslipidemia, 4% vs. 14% (P=0.005) and 16 vs. 27% (P=0.02), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In this study has been found higher odds of impaired renal function progression associated with rs3890011 and rs9332982 (CYP4A11) and rs41507953 and rs1042032 (EPHX2) polymorphisms, which may serve as biomarkers for improve clinical interventions aimed at avoiding or delaying, in chronic kidney disease patients, progress to end-stage kidney disease needing dialysis or kidney transplant.

Fractional modeling of flexural behavior of toenail plates: First step for clinical purposes.

This work presents an identification procedure of flexural behavior of toenail plates in twenty subjects with no history of feet or nail injury as of in-vivo measurements. In particular, four different mechanical models are considered to describe such properties, ranging from the pure elastic to viscoelastic behavior, the latter from the classical and fractional points of view. The quality of the adjustment of each model is examined by a group of performance indices. Experimental data show that the best identification is achieved by the fractional order viscoelastic model for all subjects. These novel results in modeling flexural behavior of toenails are consistent with the published literature suggesting that viscoelastic materials may be successfully modeled with derivatives of fractional order. This could contribute, together with additional variables, to help health professionals, and more especially podiatrists, to have reliable and quantitative measures of the nail flexural behavior which can be susceptible of treatment or for prevention.

Prevalence of foot disorders according to chronic kidney disease stage.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a public health disease that affects 15.1% of the adult population. Although a high prevalence (94.1%) of skin disorders has been detected in people on haemodialysis or with advanced CKD, few studies have analysed foot disorders at initial CKD stages. OBJECTIVES: To analyse the prevalence of foot disorders according to CKD stage. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 209 people with a mean age of 73.2 ± 13.8 years (52.0% women) in the nephrology department of Virgen del Puerto Hospital, Plasencia (Spain) were examined from January 2018 to April 2019. MEASUREMENTS: CKD stages were determined by nephrologists according to the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes Guideline. An expert podiatrist identified foot disorders. Data were statistically treated with the IBM SPSS Statistics. Comparisons between variables were analysed by the χ2  test or Fisher's exact test, with a significance level of less than 5%. RESULTS: The prevalence of foot disorders was high for skin disorders (97.6% dermatopathies and 66.0% keratopathies), nail disorders (98.5% onychopathies) and toe deformities (97.1%). People at initial and intermediate stages presented more keratopathies (hyperkeratosis at G1 and G3a and pinch callus at G3a). Stage G1 showed fewer changes in nail colour and half and half nails. Stage G4 showed more claw toes and hematoma and stage G5 more Beau's lines, changes in skin colour, hematomas and thin shiny skin. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of foot disorders detected in people with CKD requires specific and personalised professional care to relieve symptoms and avoid complications, helping to improve the quality of life of people with this condition.

Digital formula is conditioned by deformities and footwear characteristics in older people. A comparison between general population and population with psychiatric disorders

Forefoot morphology is determined by toe length. It is hereditary and unlikely to change during a person’s lifetime, although certain factors may lead to modifications. This study examines whether extrinsic factors such as footwear or deformities are associated with changes in the morphology of the forefoot and its pathologies. A study was made of the forefoot morphology, deformities and footwear of 331 participants divided into two populations: a control group (168 participants) and a population of people living in an institution (163 participants with psychiatric disorders). The results show that although Egyptian foot is the most common morphology in both populations, square foot was more prevalent among the women in the control population than among the women in the institution group. In addition, the type of footwear used by the women in the control population was mostly high-heeled constrictive street footwear, compared to the non-constrictive home footwear worn by the women in the institution population, p-value < 0.001. A high prevalence of square feet was observed in the control group women with hallux valgus (HV), p-value 0.008. A relationship was detected between the presence of HV and its prevalence in participants with square foot, concurrent with the use of constrictive footwear and mostly affecting women. The combination of HV and constrictive footwear could explain the high prevalence of the square foot morphology. These footwear characteristics can be considered risk factors in the alteration of the digital formula and aggravation of the deformity suffered in older women

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Elección del medidor de glucemia en un medio hospitalario / Selection of a glycaemia measurement instrument in a hospital environment

Los medidores de glucemia son una herramienta rápida y fácil de usar para el personal sanitario con los que se obtienen resultados muy fiables si los comparamos con los análisis hechos en laboratorio. Sin embargo, debido a las características concretas de cada medidor, su uso no puede extrapolarse a todos los pacientes. Algunos factores que hay que tener en cuenta porque pueden interferir con la medición y proporcionar lecturas erróneas son el hematocrito, la saturación de oxígeno de la hemoglobina, la presencia de azúcares como la maltosa, maltotriosa y galactosa, que compiten con la glucosa por unirse a la enzima de la tira y otras sustancias que no son azúcares, como son algunos medicamentos como la metmorfina, dopamina, ibuprofeno, salicilatos, con antibióticos como las tetraciclinas o componentes de la alimentación como el colesterol o la cafeína. Este trabajo se ha desarrollado con el objetivo de proporcionar una información básica que permita a los profesionales sanitarios seleccionarlos medidores y las tiras reactivas de glucosa más adecuadas para cada tipo de paciente (AU)

Glycaemia meters are a quick and easy to use tool for healthcare workers, and obtain very reliable results when compared to laboratory analyses. However, due to the specific characteristics of each instrument, their use cannot be extrapolated to all patients. Some of the factors that should be taken into account because they mayinterfere with measurements and provide incorrect readings are hematocrit, oxygen saturation of haemoglobin, the presence of sugars such as maltose, maltotriose and galactose, which compete with glucose as a result of joining the strip’s enzyme and other substances that are not sugars, including certain drugs such as metmorphin, dopamine, ibuprofen, salicylates, antibiotics such as tetracyclines or diet components such as cholesterol or caffeine. This work has been developed with the aim of providing basic information that enables healthcare workers to choose the glucose measurement instruments and reactive strips most suited to each type of patient (AU)