Relationship between pretransplantation liver status and health-related quality of life after grafting: a single-center prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Severity of liver disease evaluated with Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD)/Child-Pugh-Turcotte (CPT) score is of importance in liver transplantation (LTx) assessment. The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36) is a widely used generic questionnaire of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study was a prospective analysis of the effect of pretransplantation liver status on HRQoL after the procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and seven (62 male, 45 female, median age 52 years) consecutive patients were included. MELD/CPT score and diabetes status were evaluated during LTx assessment. Patients were divided into 3 groups depending on the period after LTx: 6 to 12 months (group I), 13 to 36 months (group II), and >37 months (group III). They also were divided into 2 groups depending on the age at LTx: group I (<50 years) and group II (>50 years). SF-36 was used in the assessment of HRQoL. RESULTS: Correlation between pretransplantation MELD/CPT score and HRQoL was only seen in the general health domain of the SF-36 in patients from group I (r = 0.64; P = .004 and r = 0.61; P = .02, respectively). Diabetes exerted a significant effect on the physical component summary (P = .02), again in group I. No significant correlation was observed between MELD/CPT score and the presence of diabetes in groups II and III. Regarding age at LTx, no significant correlation between MELD/CPT score and HRQoL was seen. CONCLUSIONS: Liver status assessed with MELD and CPT scores before transplantation has a minor effect on HRQoL after LTx and exerts no significant effect in patients evaluated >12 months after LTx. Patients with diabetes seem to have worse quality of life early after surgery; however, diabetic and nondiabetic patients had comparable HRQoL scores later on after LTx.

Association of the 174 G/C polymorphism of the IL6 gene in Polish power-orientated athletes.

AIM: Interleukin-6 (IL6), has been called by some authors "an exercise factor" due to its pleiotropic effects during physical training. Several studies indicated that change in the guanine bases to cytosine at position -174 affects the transcription of the IL6 gene, and finally IL6 production level. The aim of this study was to perform confirmation studies to analyze the possible importance of the IL6 -174 G/C (rs1800795) polymorphism gene in Polish power-orientated athletes. METHODS: The study was carried out on two groups of men of the same Caucasian descent: 158 power-orientated athletes and 254 volunteers not involved in competitive sport. DNA was extracted from buccal cells donated by the subjects. Genotyping was carried out by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Significance was assessed by Chi square (χ2) analysis. RESULTS: The results revealed that the frequency of the IL6 -174 GG genotype (53.16% vs. 35.82%; P=0.002) and G allele (68.67% vs. 57.87%; P=0.03) were significantly higher in the Polish power-orientated athletes compared to controls. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that the G allele could be one of the factors influencing the power-orientated sport performance. However, these conclusions should be supported with more experimental studies on other IL6 polymorphisms and other genes.

The +1245g/t polymorphisms in the collagen type I alpha 1 (col1a1) gene in polish skiers with anterior cruciate ligament injury.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the association of +1245G/T polymorphisms in the COL1A1 gene with ACL ruptures in Polish male recreational skiers in a case-control study. METHODS: A total of 138 male recreational skiers with surgically diagnosed primary ACL ruptures, all of whom qualified for ligament reconstruction, were recruited for this study. The control group comprised 183 apparently healthy male skiers with a comparable level of exposure to ACL injury, none of whom had any self-reported history of ligament or tendon injury. DNA samples extracted from the oral epithelial cells were genotyped for the +1245G/T polymorphisms using real-time PCR method. RESULTS: Genotype distributions among cases and controls conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p = 0.2469 and p = 0.33, respectively). There was a significant difference in the genotype distribution between skiers and controls (p = 0.045, Fisher's exact test). There was no statistical difference in allele distribution: OR 1.43 (0.91-2.25), p = 0.101 (two-sided Fisher's exact test). CONCLUSIONS: The risk of ACL ruptures was around 1.43 times lower in carriers of a minor allele G as compared to carriers of the allele T.

Is the C34T polymorphism of the AMPD1 gene associated with athlete performance in rowing?

The skeletal muscle-specific isoform of adenosine monophosphate deaminase (AMPD) is one of the most important regulators of muscle energy metabolism. A nonsense C to T transition in nucleotide 34 (C34T) in exon 2 of AMPD1 gene converts the codon CAA into the premature stop-codon TAA. 127 Polish male rowers including Olympic and world champions were recruited for this study. Controls samples were obtained from 251 unrelated volunteers. Statistically significant differences in genotype distribution were observed when only a whole group of rowers (88.19% CC, 11.81% CT, 0% TT; p=0.009) were compared with controls (75.31% CC, 23.10% CT, 1,59% TT). A significant deficiency of the T allele compared to control samples was noted in the elite rowers (4.55%, p=0.021) and non-elite rowers (6.63%, p=0.023), whereas this trend was even stronger when compared with the controls for the whole group of rowers (5.91%, p=0.002). Our results suggest that the T allele is associated with physical performance level, therefore, it may be included in the group of performance altering polymorphisms as a negative factor to athletic performance.