Impact of Single Amino Acid Substitutions in Parkinsonism-Associated Deglycase-PARK7 and Their Association with Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinsonism-associated deglycase-PARK7/DJ-1 (PARK7) is a multifunctional protein having significant roles in inflammatory and immune disorders and cell protection against oxidative stress. Mutations in PARK7 may result in the onset and progression of a few neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease. This study has analyzed the non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) resulting in single amino acid substitutions in PARK7 to explore its disease-causing variants and their structural dysfunctions. Initially, we retrieved the mutational dataset of PARK7 from the Ensembl database and performed detailed analyses using sequence-based and structure-based approaches. The pathogenicity of the PARK7 was then performed to distinguish the destabilizing/deleterious variants. Aggregation propensity, noncovalent interactions, packing density, and solvent accessible surface area analyses were carried out on the selected pathogenic mutations. The SODA study suggested that mutations in PARK7 result in aggregation, inducing disordered helix and altering the strand propensity. The effect of mutations alters the number of hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions in PARK7, as calculated from the Arpeggio server. The study indicated that the alteration in the hydrophobic contacts and frustration of the protein could alter the stability of the missense variants of the PARK7, which might result in disease progression. This study provides a detailed understanding of the destabilizing effects of single amino acid substitutions in PARK7.

A Comparative Assessment of Metabolic Syndrome and its Association with Vitamin D and Other Risk Factors in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome using the World Health Organization (WHO); National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) guidelines and to study its association with vitamin D and other biochemical parameters in patients with type 2 Diabetes mellitus, as well as to identify the set of biochemical parameters that jointly influence the metabolic syndrome using different diagnostic criteria. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out at a private health care center in -a total of 291 diabetic patients. Socio-demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were obtained from the medical records of patients. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 23). RESULTS: A total number of 291 patients with T2DM were included in this study. The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome among the study subjects was 48.1%, 87.3%, 64.9% using the WHO, IDF, and NCEP-ATPIII criteria, respectively. The highest prevalence was reported following IDF diagnostic criteria. Sex, triglyceride, and fasting blood sugar were associated factors of metabolic syndrome by all the three diagnostic criteria of metabolic syndrome. CONCLUSION: The study revealed a high prevalence rate of metabolic syndrome among type 2 diabetic patients, which was highest at 87.3% according to IDF and lowest was observed according to the WHO criteria i.e, 48.1%. A significant variance in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was reported between WHO, IDF, and NCEP criteria.

Association of Serum Calcium Level with Waist Circumference and Other Biochemical Health-care Predictors among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to find the association of serum calcium level with abdominal obesity according to the waist circumference (WC) and the associated factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out at private health-care center. A total of 291 patients, aged 18 years and above, with type 2 diabetes mellitus who attended the clinic from May 2017 through March 2018 were included. Sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory data were obtained from the medical records of patients. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS, version 23). Abdominal obesity was defined by WC ≥ 80cm in women and ≥94cm in men. RESULTS: A total number of 291 participants participated in the study. Among these participants, 42.6% (n = 124) were male and 57.4% (n = 167) were female. The average age of respondents was 55.99 ± 9.81 years. Among the male participants, 90 (72.6%) (95% confidence interval [CI]: 64.6%-80.5%) were abdominally obese as were 154 participants (92.2%) (95% CI: 88.1%-96.3%) among females. Overall, 244 participants (83.8%) (95% CI: 79.6%-88.1%) were abdominally obese. The results of statistical modeling showed that gender, smoking status, physical activity, and serum calcium are strong determinants of abdominal obesity. CONCLUSION: This study revealed a significant association of abdominal obesity and serum calcium level among patients with diabetes.

Antioxidant Potential of Solanum nigrum Aqueous Leaves Extract in Modulating Restraint Stress-Induced Changes in Rat's Liver.

INTRODUCTION: This study was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of crude extract of Solanum nigrum leaves and its active constituents as treatment against restraint stress in rat's liver. METHODS: For this purpose, male albino Wistar rats were treated with crude extract of leaves and its alkaloid and flavonoid fractions both before and after 6 h of acute restraint stress. Prooxidant status of rat liver was assessed by determining the levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, reduced glutathione, alkaline phosphatase, alanine transaminase, aspartate aminotransferase, and the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione S-transferase (GST). RESULTS: Six hours of restraint stress generated oxidative stress in rat's liver resulted in a significant rise in the level of the aforementioned liver enzymes. On the other hand, SOD, CAT, and GST enzymatic activities showed a significant decline in their level. The administration of crude leaves extract, both before and after stress exposure, significantly prevented the rise in the level of liver enzymes and reverted the activities of studied biochemical parameters toward their normal control values. However, the reversion was found to be more prominent in after-stress group. CONCLUSION: The aforementioned results highlight the significant antioxidant potential of S. nigrum extracts. On the basis of our study, we suggest the possible use of S. nigrum leaves extract as a nutritional supplement for combating oxidative stress induced damage.