A high burden of diabetes and ankle brachial index abnormalities exists in Mexican Americans in South Texas.

Ethnic differences exist in the United States in the interrelated problems of diabetes (DM), peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and leg amputations. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factor associations for subclinical PAD in a population sample of Mexican Americans using the ankle brachial (ABI) index. The ABI-High (higher of the two ankle pressures/highest brachial pressure) and ABI-Low (lower of the two ankle pressures/highest brachial pressure) were calculated to define PAD. Toe brachial index (TBI) was also calculated. 746 participants were included with an age of 53.4 ± 0.9 years, 28.3 % had diabetes mellitus (DM), 12.6 % were smokers, and 51.2 % had hypertension (HTN). Using ABI-High ≤ 0.9, the prevalence of PAD was 2.7 %. This rose to 12.7 % when an ABI-Low ≤ 0.9 was used; 4.0 % of the population had an ABI-High > 1.4. The prevalence of TBI < 0.7 was 3.9 %. DM was a significant risk factor for ABI-High ≤ 0.9 and ABI-High > 1.4, and TBI < 0.7. Increased age, HTN, smoking was associated with ABI-High ≤ 0.9, while being male was associated with ABI-High > 1.4. Increased age, smoking, and lower education were all associated with abnormal TBI. Despite relatively younger mean age than other studied Hispanic cohorts, the present population has a high burden of ABI abnormalities. DM was a consistent risk factor for PAD. These abnormalities indicate an important underlying substrate of vascular and metabolic disease that may predispose this population to the development of symptomatic PAD and incident amputations.

T-DNA insertional mutagenesis in Arabidopsis: a tool for functional genomics

With the availability of complete genome sequences of several organisms, the focus has shifted from structural genomics to functional genomics, specifically in plants where the complete genomic sequences are becoming available i.e., Arabidopsis and rice. Agrobacterium mediated transformation which is exploited for transgenic technology is also being used as an effective mutagen and as a tool for functional genomics in higher plants. Besides the fact that the insertion of T-DNA element into a gene can lead to loss or gain of function, ingenious use of a variety of vectors have led to the identification of genes and regulatory elements in Arabidopsis. In this review, we highlight the progress made in the field of functional genomics of Arabidopsis using T-DNA tagging. Since this strategy has been very successfully employed in Arabidopsis and is now being extended to other plant species, we discuss the various vectors and experimental approaches employed to tag, identify and clone genes and promoter elements in Arabidopsis using T-DNA as a tool.