Association between serum liver enzymes and hypertension: a cross-sectional study in Bangladeshi adults.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a major contributing factor to cardiovascular disease and is a leading cause of death in the world. The association between hepatic enzymes and hypertension has been reported in limited studies and the findings are inconsistent; data from Bangladeshi adults are not available yet. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of elevated liver enzymes and evaluate the association of elevated liver enzymes with hypertension in Bangladeshi adults. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 302 blood samples were collected from adult participants and analyzed the serum concentrations of alanine and aspartate aminotransferase (ALT, AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and other markers related to hypertension. Hypertension was defined as resting SBP ≥ 140 mmHg and/or DBP ≥ 90 mmHg. Associations between elevated liver enzymes and hypertension were evaluated by multinomial logistic regression. RESULTS: The mean concentrations of serum ALT, AST and GGT were significantly higher in the hypertensive group compared to the normotensive group (p < 0.01, p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). Overall, 49.2% of subjects in the hypertensive group and 38.1% of individuals in the normotensive group had at least one or more elevated liver enzymes. The prevalence of elevated ALT, AST, and GGT was significantly higher among participants in the hypertensive group compared to the normotensive group (p < 0.01, p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). An increasing trend for elevated liver enzymes was observed with increasing blood pressure. Serum ALT and GGT showed an independent relationship with hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of elevated liver enzymes was higher in hypertensive individuals. Increased serum ALT and GGT activities were positively associated with hypertension in Bangladeshi adults.

The relationship between serum uric acid and lipid profile in Bangladeshi adults.

BACKGROUND: Although the link between elevated uric acid and metabolic syndrome has been reported in some studies; the relationship of serum uric acid (SUA) with lipid profile has not well studied or little is known so far. This study was conducted to assess the relationship between SUA and lipid profile among the general adults in Bangladesh. METHODS: In total, 280 blood samples were collected from general adult participants (male, n = 150 and female, n = 130) and analyzed for serum lipid profile (TC, TG, HDL and LDL) and SUA levels. The study subjects were divided by quartiles based on SUA levels (Q1: ≤225 µmol/L, Q2: 226-285 µmol/L, Q3: 286-340 µmol/L and Q4: > 340 µmol/L). Linear regression modeling was used to evaluate the relationship between SUA and lipid levels. RESULTS: The prevalence of hyperuricemia was 9.2% in males and 10.4% in females. The mean level of SUA was significantly higher in male (317 ± 90 µmol/L) than in the female (255 ± 65 µmol/L) subjects (p < 0.001). An increasing trend for elevated lipid profile was observed in both gender with increasing levels of SUA in the quartiles (p < 0.05). In regression analysis, a significant positive correlation was found between SUA and TG, TC and LDL (p < 0.01) while an inverse correlation was observed between SUA and HDL (p < 0.01). After adjusting for potential confounders, lipid profile was linearly associated with SUA levels (p < 0.01 for trend). CONCLUSIONS: Present study showed a significant positive relationship for SUA with TG, TC and LDL levels, and an inverse relationship for SUA with HDL. Early prevention of hyperuricemia and dyslipidemia may be helpful to reduce the incidence of associated cardiovascular diseases.

Genome wide analysis of the heavy-metal-associated (HMA) gene family in tomato and expression profiles under different stresses.

The heavy-metal-associated (HMA) family plays a major role in the transportation of metals. Despite having the genome sequence of the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), the HMA gene family has not been studied yet. In this study, we identified 48 HMA genes and categorized them into Cu/Ag P1B-ATPase and Zn/Co/Cd/Pb P1BATPase sub-families according to their phylogenic relationship with Arabidopsis and rice. The SlHMA genes were distributed throughout the 12 chromosomes. Analysis of gene structure, chromosomal position, and synteny, revealed that segmental duplications bestowed their evolution. The high numbers of stress-related cis-elements were found to be present in the putative promoter regions indicate the involvement of SlHMAs in stress modulation pathways. RNA-seq data revealed that SlHMAs had divergent expression in different tissues and developmental stages, where members of Cu/Ag P1B-ATPase subfamily were strongly expressed in the roots. RT-qPCR analysis of nine selected SlHMAs showed that most of the genes were up-regulated in response to heavy metals and moderately regulated in response to different abiotic stresses such as salt, drought, and cold.

The prevalence of general obesity, abdominal obesity, and hypertension and its related risk factors among young adult students in Bangladesh.

Hypertension is a major cause of cardiovascular disease and related mortality worldwide. The presence of general and abdominal obesity in hypertensive individuals increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality. However, evidence on the burden of obesity and hypertension and associated factors are lacking or limited among young adult students in Bangladesh. This study measured the prevalence and factors associated with general and abdominal obesity and hypertension among university students in Bangladesh. In this study, a total of 1011 students (647 males and 364 females) were enrolled on nine public universities in eight divisional regions of Bangladesh. Data were collected on socio-demographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle in a questionnaire form. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association of general obesity, abdominal obesity and hypertension with different factors. The prevalence of general obesity, abdominal obesity and hypertension was 8.3%, 20.7%, and 10.2%, respectively. The females had a higher prevalence of general obesity (8.8%) and abdominal obesity (26.3%) compared to the males (8.0% and 17.7%, respectively). However, a higher prevalence of hypertension was observed in males (12.2%) than in the female (6.1%) patients. In regression analysis, age showed a significant association with general obesity, whereas, age and female sex were significantly associated with abdominal obesity. The analysis also identified the male sex and high BMI as the increased risk factors for hypertension. Our study suggests a comprehensive screening program and campaigns to increase awareness about obesity and hypertension and its risk factors among young adults in Bangladesh.

Genome-wide identification and expression profiling of glutathione S-transferase family under multiple abiotic and biotic stresses in Medicago truncatula L.

Glutathione transferases (GSTs) constitute an ancient, ubiquitous, multi-functional antioxidant enzyme superfamily that has great importance on cellular detoxification against abiotic and biotic stresses as well as plant development and growth. The present study aimed to a comprehensive genome-wide identification and functional characterization of GST family in one of the economically important legume plants-Medicago truncatula. Here, we have identified a total of ninety-two putative MtGST genes that code for 120 proteins. All these members were classified into twelve classes based on their phylogenetic relationship and the presence of structural conserved domain/motif. Among them, 7 MtGST gene pairs were identified to have segmental duplication. Expression profiling of MtGST transcripts revealed their high level of organ/tissue-specific expression in most of the developmental stages and anatomical tissues. The transcripts of MtGSTU5, MtGSTU8, MtGSTU17, MtGSTU46, and MtGSTU47 showed significant up-regulation in response to various abiotic and biotic stresses. Moreover, transcripts of MtGSTU8, MtGSTU14, MtGSTU28, MtGSTU30, MtGSTU34, MtGSTU46 and MtGSTF8 were found to be highly upregulated in response to drought treatment for 24h and 48h. Among the highly stress-responsive MtGST members, MtGSTU17 showed strong affinity towards its conventional substrates reduced glutathione (GSH) and 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) with the lowest binding energy of-5.7 kcal/mol and -6.5 kcal/mol, respectively. Furthermore, the substrate-binding site residues of MtGSTU17 were found to be highly conserved. These findings will facilitate the further functional and evolutionary characterization of GST genes in Medicago.

Prevalence of elevated liver enzymes and its association with type 2 diabetes: A cross-sectional study in Bangladeshi adults.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a major public health concern affecting millions of people worldwide. The relationship between liver enzymes and T2D has been reported in limited studies; however, there is still a lack of evidence for the Bangladeshi population. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of elevated liver enzymes and examine its association with the prevalence of T2D in Bangladeshi adults. METHODS: A total of 270 individuals (110 diabetic and 160 nondiabetic) were enrolled in the study. Alanine and aspartate aminotransferase (ALT, AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activities were measured in blood serum collected from them. T2D was defined as fasting blood glucose (FBG) ≥126 mg/dL or self-reported recent use of insulin or antidiabetic medications. Association between liver enzymes and T2D was evaluated by multinomial logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Overall, 61.2% of participants in T2D and 37.1% of participants in the nondiabetes group had at least one or more elevated liver enzymes. The mean concentrations of serum ALT, AST, ALP and GGT were significantly higher in the T2D group compared to the nondiabetes group. The prevalence of elevated liver enzymes was significantly higher in the diabetes group compared to the nondiabetes group (P < .01). In regression analysis, serum GGT activity showed an independent association with the prevalence of T2D. CONCLUSIONS: A high prevalence of elevated liver enzymes was observed in subjects having diabetes. Increased serum GGT activity was independently associated with the prevalence of T2D among Bangladeshi adults. More studies of this nature should be carried out in developing countries to get proper insights into the involvement of liver enzymes in T2D.

Contriving a chimeric polyvalent vaccine to prevent infections caused by herpes simplex virus (type-1 and type-2): an exploratory immunoinformatic approach.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and 2 (HSV-2) cause a variety of infections including oral-facial infections, genital herpes, herpes keratitis, cutaneous infection and so on. To date, FDA-approved licensed HSV vaccine is not available yet. Hence, the study was conducted to identify and characterize an effective epitope based polyvalent vaccine against both types of Herpes Simplex Virus. The selected proteins were retrieved from ViralZone and assessed to design highly antigenic epitopes by binding analyses of the peptides with MHC class-I and class-II molecules, antigenicity screening, transmembrane topology screening, allergenicity and toxicity assessment, population coverage analysis and molecular docking approach. The final vaccine was constructed by the combination of top CTL, HTL and BCL epitopes from each protein along with suitable adjuvant and linkers. Physicochemical and secondary structure analysis, disulfide engineering, molecular dynamic simulation and codon adaptation were further employed to develop a unique multi-epitope peptide vaccine. Docking analysis of the refined vaccine structure with different MHC molecules and human immune TLR-2 receptor demonstrated higher interaction. Complexed structure of the modeled vaccine and TLR-2 showed minimal deformability at molecular level. Moreover, translational potency and microbial expression of the modeled vaccine was analyzed with pET28a(+) vector for E. coli strain K12 and the vaccine constructs had no similarity with entire human proteome. The study enabled design of a novel chimeric polyvalent vaccine to confer broad range immunity against both HSV serotypes. However, further wet lab based research using model animals are highly recommended to experimentally validate our findings.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Genome-wide identification of glutathione S-transferase gene family in pepper, its classification, and expression profiling under different anatomical and environmental conditions.

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) compose a family of multifunctional enzymes involved in the numerous aspects of regulating plant growth, development, and stress response. An in silico genome-wide analysis of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) was performed to identify eighty-five GST genes that were annotated according to their chromosomal location. Segmental duplication contributed more than tandem duplication for the expansion of GST gene family in pepper. All the identified members belong to ten different classes which are highly conserved among Arabidopsis, rice, tomato and potato counterparts indicating the pre-dicot-monocot split diversification of GST classes. Gene structure, protein domain, and motif organization were found to be notably conserved over the distinct phylogenetic groups, which demonstrated the evolutionary significant role of each class. Expression of most of the CaGST transcripts as well as the total pepper GST activity was found to be significantly up-regulated in response to cold, heat, drought, salinity and osmotic stress conditions. Presence of various hormone and stress-responsive cis-elements on most of the putative CaGST promoter regions could be directly correlated with the alteration of their transcripts. All these findings might provide opportunities for future functional validation of this important gene family in pepper.

Assessment of the relationship between serum uric acid and glucose levels in healthy, prediabetic and diabetic individuals.

BACKGROUND: In epidemiological studies, serum uric acid (SUA) has been shown to be associated with hypertension and cardiovascular disorders. However, limited studies have evaluated the relationship between SUA and glucose levels in healthy and diabetic individuals and their observed findings are inconsistent. This study aimed to examine the relationship between SUA and fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels among healthy, prediabetic and diabetic individuals in Bangladesh. METHODS: In total, 310 blood samples were collected from 215 male and 95 female subjects and analyzed for FBG, SUA, and lipid levels. All participants were categorized into four quartiles based on SUA concentrations. Diabetes and prediabetes were defined as FBG level ≥ 126 mg/dL and 100-125 mg/dL, respectively. The association between SUA and diabetes was evaluated by multinomial logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The prediabetic and diabetic individuals had a lower mean level of SUA (338.2 ± 101.6 and 290.9 ± 98.2 µmol/L, respectively) compared to healthy (369.5 ± 110.9 µmol/L) individuals (p < 0.001). SUA was positively associated with BMI, TG and TC but negatively associated with FBG. The prevalence of diabetes was decreased with increasing concentration of SUA across the quartiles. In regression analysis, SUA levels were inversely associated with diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSIONS: SUA levels were high in healthy individuals but declined in prediabetic and diabetic individuals with increasing FBG concentrations. A significant inverse association was observed between the levels of SUA and diabetes in Bangladeshi adults. Further studies are needed to examine the reliability of using SUA to predict diabetes.

Relationship between serum uric acid and hypertension: a cross-sectional study in Bangladeshi adults.

Experimental evidence suggests a causal role of serum uric acid (SUA) in hypertension development. Currently, there are few data available on the association between SUA and hypertension; data from Bangladeshi adults are not available yet. This study evaluated the association of SUA with hypertension among Bangladeshi adults. Blood samples were obtained from 140 males and 115 females and analyzed for SUA and lipid levels. Hypertension was defined as SBP ≥ 140 mmHg and/or DBP ≥ 90 mmHg. All participants were divided into four quartiles based on SUA concentrations. Association of SUA with hypertension was evaluated by logistic regression models. The prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension was significantly higher in male (15.4 and 47.6%, respectively) than in the female (5.6 and 33.4%, respectively) subjects (p < 0.01). Males had a higher mean level of SUA (310.7 ± 67.9 µmol/L) than in the females (255.3 ± 69.3 µmol/L) (p < 0.001). Hyperuricemia was prevalent 9.1% in males and 10.3% in females. An increasing trend for hypertension and prehypertension was found in both genders with increasing SUA levels in the quartiles (p < 0.01). SUA levels in the quartiles were positively correlated with blood pressure (p < 0.01). After adjusting for baseline covariates, SUA levels were significantly associated with hypertension (p < 0.01). Findings of this study indicate the significance of maintaining normal SUA level to prevent hypertension.

Prevalence of hyperuricemia and the relationship between serum uric acid and obesity: A study on Bangladeshi adults.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Recent studies have shown that hyperuricemia is commonly associated with dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and metabolic syndrome. Elevated serum uric acid has been demonstrated to be associated with obesity in the adult population in many countries; however, there is still a lack of evidence for the Bangladeshi population. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of hyperuricemia and determine the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) and obesity among the Bangladeshi adults. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, blood samples were collected from 260 adults (142 males and 118 females) and analyzed for SUA and lipid profile. All participants were categorized as underweight (n = 11), normal (n = 66), overweight (n = 120) and obese (n = 63) according to the body mass index (BMI) scale for the Asian population. Based on SUA concentration the participants were stratified into four quartiles (Q1: < 232 µmol/L, Q2: 232-291 µmol/L, Q3: 292-345 µmol/L and Q4: > 345 µmol/L). RESULTS: The mean age and BMI of the participants were 32.5 ± 13.3 years and 24.9 ± 3.8 kg/m2, respectively. The average level of SUA was 294 ± 90 µmol/L with a significant difference between males and females (p < 0.001). Overall, the estimated prevalence of hyperuricemia was 9.3% with 8.4% in male and 10.2% in female participants. There were significant increases in the prevalence of obesity (17.4%, 22.2%, 28.6% and 31.8%, respectively, p < 0.01 for trend) across the SUA quartiles. A multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that SUA quartiles were independently associated with the presence of obesity (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Present study indicates a significant positive relationship between SUA and obesity among the Bangladeshi adults. Therefore, routine measurement of SUA is recommended in obese individuals to prevent hyperuricemia and its related complications.

Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of glutathione S-transferase gene family in tomato: Gaining an insight to their physiological and stress-specific roles.

Glutathione S-transferase (GST) refers to one of the major detoxifying enzymes that plays an important role in different abiotic and biotic stress modulation pathways of plant. The present study aimed to a comprehensive genome-wide functional characterization of GST genes and proteins in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). The whole genome sequence analysis revealed the presence of 90 GST genes in tomato, the largest GST gene family reported till date. Eight segmental duplicated gene pairs might contribute significantly to the expansion of SlGST gene family. Based on phylogenetic analysis of tomato, rice, and Arabidopsis GST proteins, GST family members could be further divided into ten classes. Members of each orthologous class showed high conservancy among themselves. Tau and lambda are the major classes of tomato; while tau and phi are the major classes for rice and Arabidopsis. Chromosomal localization revealed highly uneven distribution of SlGST genes in 13 different chromosomes, where chromosome 9 possessed the highest number of genes. Based on publicly available microarray data, expression analysis of 30 available SlGST genes exhibited a differential pattern in all the analyzed tissues and developmental stages. Moreover, most of the members showed highly induced expression in response to multiple biotic and abiotic stress inducers that could be harmonized with the increase in total GST enzyme activity under several stress conditions. Activity of tomato GST could be enhanced further by using some positive modulators (safeners) that have been predicted through molecular docking of SlGSTU5 and ligands. Moreover, tomato GST proteins are predicted to interact with a lot of other glutathione synthesizing and utilizing enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glutathione synthetase and γ-glutamyltransferase. This comprehensive genome-wide analysis and expression profiling would provide a rational platform and possibility to explore the versatile role of GST genes in crop engineering.