Regional disparities related to cardiovascular diseases and diet quality in Korean adults: based on the 2013-2016 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death in Koreans, and eating habits, including diet quality, are among the etiologies of these diseases. Recently, various studies on regional health disparities have been conducted. However, there are limited studies on their relationship with nutritional factors. This study aimed to identify the magnitude of regional disparities in diet quality and prevalence of CVD in Korean adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study included 17,646 participants aged ≥ 20 years from the 7th (2013-2016) Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants were classified into four groups based on their residential areas: City 1, City 2, City 3, and non-city. Demographic characteristics, health-related factors, body mass index (BMI), metabolic syndrome index, diet quality, and CVD prevalence were evaluated. RESULTS: In terms of demographic characteristics, age (P < 0.001), marital status (P < 0.001), educational level (P < 0.001), and income (P < 0.001) were lower in the non-city category. Health-related factors such as monthly drinking rate (P < 0.01) and mental stress (P < 0.05) were the highest in City 1 and lowest in the non-city group. Conversely, the current smoking rate (P < 0.05), BMI (P < 0.05), and prevalence of metabolic syndrome (P < 0.001) were the highest in the non-city group (P < 0.05). The non-city group also had the highest prevalence of CVDs (35.6%). This group had the lowest diet quality index (68.36 ± 0.22, P < 0.01), caused by low intake of fruit and calcium, a lack of sodium moderation, and an overall imbalance in the macronutrient and fatty acid ratio. When the diet quality index was increased by 1, the odds ratio for the prevalence of CVDs was reduced by 0.991 (P < 0.001), but this was not the case in all regions. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides useful information and data in identifying and resolving the regional health disparities related to CVD prevalence and implementation of public health nutrition systems.

Comparative Analysis of Ginsenoside Profiles: Antioxidant, Antiproliferative, and Antigenotoxic Activities of Ginseng Extracts of Fine and Main Roots.

The aim of this study was to compare ginsenosides profiles, and antioxidant, antiproliferative, and antigenotoxic activities of ginseng extract derived from fine and main roots. The result of the analysis showed a higher total content of ginsenoside in fine roots than in main roots; differences in levels between the different extracts were also confirmed. The oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay showed that H2O main root extract had a significantly higher activity than that from fine roots. MeOH and H2O extracts from the fine and main roots also exhibited stronger cellular antioxidant capacity 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride-induced oxidative stress in HepG2 cells compared with the positive control. Through calculating the half-maximal inhibitory concentration values, the cytotoxicity of the main root extracts were ranked as follows: MeOH (6.1±1.2 µg/mL)> H2O (6.6±0.1 µg/mL)> ethanol (10.4±0.6 µg/mL); however, the cytotoxicity of all fine root extracts did not significantly differ. All the fine root extracts showed an inhibitory capacity against 4-hydroxynonenal-induced DNA damage, however only the MeOH extract of the main root showed a decrease in DNA damage. All three solvent extracts from the fine roots reduced DNA damage more in the H2O2-treated group, whereas only the MeOH and H2O extracts of the main roots produced a significant reduction. Levels of Rg3 ginsenoside were positively correlated with indices of the ORAC value, and total ginsenoside contents showed a negative correlation with DNA damage induced by H2O2. This study suggests that ginseng and the extraction solvent both affect levels of ginsenoside. Furthermore, the antioxidant potency of ginseng can be attributed to the content of some ginsenosides.

Differential pre-amplification of STR loci for fragmented forensic DNA profiling.

DNA profiling of short tandem repeats (STR) has been successfully used for the identification of individuals in forensic samples, accidents and natural disasters. However, STR profiling of DNA isolated from old crime scenes and damaged biological samples is difficult due to DNA degradation and fragmentation. Here, we show that pre-amplification of STR loci using biotinylated primers for the STR loci is an efficient strategy to obtain STR profiling results from fragmented forensic samples. Analysis of STR loci with longer amplicon sizes is generally hampered, since these relatively long loci are vulnerable to DNA fragmentation. This problem was overcome by using reduced or increased primer concentrations for loci with shorter or longer amplicon sizes, respectively, in our pre-amplification strategy. In addition, pre-amplification of STR loci into two groups of short or long amplicon size increases the efficiency of STR profiling from highly fragmented forensic DNA samples. Therefore, differential pre-amplification of STR loci is an effective way to obtain DNA profiling results from fragmented forensic samples.

Biogenic Amine Degradation by Bacillus Species Isolated from Traditional Fermented Soybean Food and Detection of Decarboxylase-Related Genes.

Biogenic amines in some food products present considerable toxicological risks as potential human carcinogens when consumed in excess concentrations. In this study, we investigated the degradation of the biogenic amines histamine and tyramine and the presence of genes encoding histidine and tyrosine decarboxylases and amine oxidase in Bacillus species isolated from fermented soybean food. No expression of histidine and tyrosine decarboxylase genes (hdc and tydc) were detected in the Bacillus species isolated (B. subtilis HJ0-6, B. subtilis D'J53-4, and B. idriensis RD13-10), although substantial levels of amine oxidase gene (yobN) expression were observed. We also found that the three selected strains, as non-biogenic amineproducing bacteria, were significantly able to degrade the biogenic amines histamine and tyramine. These results indicated that the selected Bacillus species could be used as a starter culture for the control of biogenic amine accumulation and degradation in food. Our study findings also provided the basis for the development of potential biological control agents against these biogenic amines for use in the food preservation and food safety sectors.

The prognostic impact of mutations in spliceosomal genes for myelodysplastic syndrome patients without ring sideroblasts.

BACKGROUND: Mutations in genes that are part of the splicing machinery for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), including MDS without ring sideroblasts (RS), have been widely investigated. The effects of these mutations on clinical outcomes have been diverse and contrasting. METHODS: We examined a cohort of 129 de novo MDS patients, who did not harbor RS, for mutations affecting three spliceosomal genes (SF3B1, U2AF1, and SRSF2). RESULTS: The mutation rates of SF3B1, U2AF1, and SRSF2 were 7.0 %, 7.8 %, and 10.1 %, respectively. Compared with previously reported results, these rates were relatively infrequent. The SRSF2 mutation strongly correlated with old age (P < 0.001), while the mutation status of SF3B1 did not affect overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), or acute myeloid leukemia (AML) transformation. In contrast, MDS patients with mutations in U2AF1 or SRSF2 exhibited inferior PFS. The U2AF1 mutation was associated with inferior OS in low-risk MDS patients (P = 0.035). The SRSF2 mutation was somewhat associated with AML transformation (P = 0.083). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the frequencies of the SF3B1, U2AF1, and SRSF2 splicing gene mutations in MDS without RS were relatively low. We also demonstrated that the U2AF1 and SRSF2 mutations were associated with an unfavorable prognostic impact in MDS patients without RS.

Optimization of STR locus enrichment for STR profiling of fragmented DNA.

DNA degradation is a major obstacle in gaining an accurate profile with standard DNA typing technology. Although alternative genotyping strategies such as mini-STRs and SNPs have proven to be more successful in profiling degraded DNA, these approaches also have limitations. Here, we show that locus enrichment by hybridization of degraded genomic DNA with an STR locus-specific biotinylated oligonucleotide is a powerful approach to overcome problems in STR typing of highly degraded DNA. An experimental investigation of factors affecting the efficiency of this method indicates that the choice of primer and molar ratio of primers to genomic DNA are critical factors in improving enrichment of the STR locus before genotyping with multiplex kits. In addition, we find that indirect capture rather than direct capture with magnetic beads yields better enrichment efficiency for STR locus enrichments. Using these strategies, we demonstrate an improvement in STR typing of DNA from cultured cells damaged by exposure to sunlight or UV. We suggest that this approach could be applied to highly degraded forensic samples alone or in combination with mini-STRs.

Flow cytometric human leukocyte antigen-B27 typing with stored samples for batch testing.

BACKGROUND: Flow cytometry (FC) HLA-B27 typing is still used extensively for the diagnosis of spondyloarthropathies. If patient blood samples are stored for a prolonged duration, this testing can be performed in a batch manner, and in-house cellular controls could easily be procured. In this study, we investigated various methods of storing patient blood samples. METHODS: WE COMPARED FOUR STORAGE METHODS: three methods of analyzing lymphocytes (whole blood stored at room temperature, frozen mononuclear cells, and frozen white blood cells [WBCs] after lysing red blood cells [RBCs]), and one method using frozen platelets (FPLT). We used three ratios associated with mean fluorescence intensities (MFI) for HLAB27 assignment: the B27 MFI ratio (sample/control) for HLA-B27 fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate (FITC); the B7 MFI ratio for HLA-B7 phycoerythrin (PE); and the ratio of these two ratios, B7/B27 ratio. RESULTS: Comparing the B27 MFI ratios of each storage method for the HLA-B27+ samples and the B7/B27 ratios for the HLA-B7+ samples revealed that FPLT was the best of the four methods. FPLT had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 99.3% for HLA-B27 assignment in DNA-typed samples (N=164) when the two criteria, namely, B27 MFI ratio >4.0 and B7/B27 ratio <1.5, were used. CONCLUSIONS: The FPLT method was found to offer a simple, economical, and accurate method of FC HLA-B27 typing by using stored patient samples. If stored samples are used, this method has the potential to replace the standard FC typing method when used in combination with a complementary DNA-based method.

A missense mutation (c.1963A

Serum Ca(++) levels play important roles in the humoral immunity. The aim of this study was to detect quantitative trait loci and the associated positional candidate genes affecting baseline serum Ca(++) concentrations. A genome-wide association study was conducted in an F(2) intercross population between Landrace and Korean native pigs using the porcine single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) 60 K beadchip and the PLINK program based on linear regression. Data used in the study included 410 F(2) pigs. All experimental animals were genotyped with 36,613 SNP markers located throughout the pig autosomes. We identified a strong association between a SNP marker on chromosome 7 and serum Ca(++) levels (DIAS0002191, genomic control-corrected P = 7.7 × 10(-5)). The position of DIAS0002191 was closely located to SLA class III region containing the C2 gene encoding the complementary component 2 protein, a protein which is important in the humoral immune responses. De novo sequencing of the porcine C2 gene revealed a missense mutation [c.1963A

Effects of puffer (Sphoeroides rubripes) supplementation on disruption of antioxidant defense systems in ethanol-treated rats.

We investigated the effects of puffer (Sphoeroides rubripes) supplementation on antioxidant metabolism in ethanol-treated rats. Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into 4 groups of 7 rats each and fed (1) an AIN-93G diet (NC), (2) 25% ethanol (E), (3) 25% ethanol and an AIN-93G diet containing 1% puffer flesh (E+F), or (4) 25% ethanol and an AIN-93G diet containing 1% puffer skin (E+S) for 5 wk. At the end of the experimental period, the rats were sacrificed and their blood and organs were collected. To evaluate the effect of puffer supplementation, lipid-soluble antioxidant vitamin and conjugated diene (CD) levels, DNA damage, and mRNA expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) were assessed. Animals that were fed ethanol showed reduced plasma levels of lipid-soluble antioxidant vitamin and significantly increased levels of lipid peroxides, DNA damage, and HO-1 expression. Dietary supplementation with puffer conferred an antioxidant effect by significantly increasing the levels of γ-tocopherol, a lipid-soluble antioxidant vitamin, and by significantly decreasing the plasma levels of CD, DNA damage, and HO-1 expression. These results suggest that consumption of puffer improves the antioxidant status of ethanol-treated rats.

An accurate method for quantifying and analyzing copy number variation in porcine KIT by an oligonucleotide ligation assay.

BACKGROUND: Aside from single nucleotide polymorphisms, copy number variations (CNVs) are the most important factors in susceptibility to genetic disorders because they affect expression levels of genes. In previous studies, pyrosequencing, mini-sequencing, real-time PCR, invader assays and other techniques have been used to detect CNVs. However, the higher the copy number in a genome, the more difficult it is to resolve the copies, so a more accurate method for measuring CNVs and assigning genotype is needed. RESULTS: PCR followed by a quantitative oligonucleotide ligation assay (qOLA) was developed for quantifying CNVs. The accuracy and precision of the assay were evaluated for porcine KIT, which was selected as a model locus. Overall, the root mean squares of bias and standard deviation of qOLA were 2.09 and 0.45, respectively. These values are less than half of those in the published pyrosequencing assay for analyzing CNV in porcine KIT. Using a combined method of qOLA and another pyrosequencing for quantitative analysis of KIT copies with spliced forms, we confirmed the segregation of KIT alleles in 145 F1 animals with pedigree information and verified the correct assignment of genotypes. In a diagnostic test on 100 randomly sampled commercial pigs, there was perfect agreement between the genotypes obtained by grouping observations on a scatter plot and by clustering using the nearest centroid sorting method implemented in PROC FASTCLUS of the SAS package. In a test on 159 Large White pigs, there were only two discrepancies between genotypes assigned by the two clustering methods (98.7% agreement), confirming that the quantitative ligation assay established here makes genotyping possible through the accurate measurement of high KIT copy numbers (>4 per diploid genome). Moreover, the assay is sensitive enough for use on DNA from hair follicles, indicating that DNA from various sources could be used. CONCLUSION: We have established a high resolution quantification method using an oligonucleotide ligation assay to measure CNVs, and verified the reliability of genotype assignment for random animal samples using the nearest centroid sorting method. This new method will make it more practical to determine KIT CNV and to genotype the complicated Dominant White/KIT locus in pigs. This procedure could have wide applications for studying gene or segment CNVs in other species.

Effects of simvastatin on plasma antioxidant status and vitamins in hypercholesterolemic patients.

BACKGROUND: Statins are known to possess antioxidant properties in addition to their cholesterol-lowering effects. However, recent studies have suggested that statins reduce the levels of antioxidant vitamins such as vitamin E and coenzyme Q(10), possibly resulting in impaired left ventricular function. We investigated the effects of simvastatin on the blood lipids, LDL oxidation and plasma antioxidant status, and whether these effects were associated with changes in plasma antioxidant vitamin levels. METHODS: Simvastatin (20-40 mg/day) was administered for 8 weeks in seventy-six hypercholesterolemic patients. We measured plasma lipids, oxidized LDL, total radical trapping antioxidant potential (TRAP) and plasma antioxidant vitamin levels at baseline and after 8 weeks of simvastatin administration. RESULTS: Simvastatin significantly lowered serum levels of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol by 30.1% and 41.9%, respectively. A significant reduction in oxidized LDL levels (p<0.0001) and improvement in plasma antioxidant status as measured by TRAP (p<0.05) after the 8-week simvastatin treatment were observed. Regarding the effects of simvastatin on plasma antioxidant vitamin levels, there were significant increases in the levels of lipid-corrected retinol (p<0.001), alpha-tocopherol (p<0.001) and gamma-tocopherol (p<0.005) after the 8-week simvastatin treatment. Lipid-corrected levels of coenzyme Q10 and carotenoids remained unchanged after simvastatin treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that simvastatin reduced blood lipids and circulating oxidized LDL, and improved plasma antioxidant status without altering the antioxidant vitamin system. These data indicate that simvastatin not only decreases blood lipids and circulating oxidized LDL but also increases lipid corrected levels of antioxidant vitamins and may improve plasma antioxidant status synergizing with the biological effects of antioxidants.