Obesity, diabetes, and associated diseases are increasing all over the world, and pose a great burden on public health. According to the latest reports, 440 million people are suffering from ...diabetes. Diabetes is caused by impaired ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin consequently resulting in hyperglycemia.
Data used for this review was obtained by using PUBMED/MEDLINE (1987-2018). The main data search terms were: Gentiana lutea, Gentiana lutea extract, Gentiana lutea constituents, obesity, diabetes mellitus, diabetic complications.
In the present review, we describe the potential of root powder of yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea) for the prevention of obesity and diabetes including complications related to this disease.
Reasonably effective, low-cost alternatives could fulfill an important role for a large part of the human population and could be of great value for the food market. Even a modest reduction of morbidity and mortality with respect to this disease translates into millions of lives saved.
Ionising radiation damages DNA directly and indirectly through increased production of reactive oxygen species. Although telomeres have been reported as indicators of radiosensitivity, their ...maintenance in response to occupational exposure to low radiation doses is still a matter of debate. In this work we aimed to investigate telomere length and structure in hospital workers occupationally exposed to X-rays and to relate these findings to oxidation of biomolecules and chromosome aberrations. Blood samples of exposed participants and matching controls were taken during periodical check-ups. Chromosome aberrations and telomere length and structure were analysed in peripheral blood lymphocytes using Q-FISH, whereas oxidative stress parameters pro/antioxidant balance (PAB), lipid peroxidation, and 8-oxo-dG were measured in plasma samples. Based on the CA findings we divided the exposed group into two subgroups, of which one had chromosome aberrations in the first division metaphases and the other did not. There was no significant difference in telomere length between any of the groups. However, both subgroups showed significantly higher rate of fragile telomeres and higher lipid peroxidation product and 8-oxo-dG levels than controls. The rate of fragile telomeres significantly correlated with plasma levels of 8-oxo-dG, which suggests that continuous exposure to low radiation doses induces oxidative base damage of guanine resulting in telomere fragility.
A 19‐year‐old gravida underwent genetic counseling at the 26th week of gestation due to sonographically detected fetal anomalies, including Dandy–Walker malformation, characterized by cerebellar ...vermis hypoplasia and an enlarged cisterna magna, and single ventricle heart. Following amniocentesis at the 27th week, after the normal quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction and chromosomal microarray results, trio clinical exome sequencing was performed, revealing a novel homozygous pathogenic variant in the MPDZ gene, c.4576G>T (NM_001378778.1). So far, homozygous and compound heterozygous variants in MPDZ have been strongly linked to congenital hydrocephalus type 2 with or without accompanying brain or eye anomalies. The reported variant, absent in control databases, resulted in premature termination of protein synthesis, consistent with pathogenicity predictions. Both parents were identified as heterozygous carriers. Pregnancy termination was chosen post‐diagnosis. Postmortem findings correlated with prenatal ultrasound. Our case broadens the prenatal phenotypic spectrum associated with MPDZ variants, necessitating further studies for comprehensive understanding of molecular mechanisms beneath the clinical manifestations.
Key points
What is already known about this topic?
Pathogenic variants in the MPDZ gene are associated with congenital hydrocephalus type 2 with or without accompanying brain or eye anomalies.
What does this study add?
This case describes prenatal manifestations of MPDZ gene variants excluding congenital hydrocephalus, thus involving Dandy–Walker malformation and single ventricular heart.
Our report suggests expansion of MPDZ variant phenotypic spectrum and implies there is an impact on multiple organ systems.
MicroRNAs have a significant role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. Circulating microRNAs could represent a potential biomarker for preeclampsia. The aim of this study was to evaluate plasma ...miR210-3p and miR518b in preeclampsia and healthy pregnancy for the first time by digital droplet PCR (ddPCR).
Thirty-six pregnant women (seventeen healthy pregnancies, nineteen preeclampsia patients) were involved from the Clinic for Gynaecology and Obstetrics “Narodni front” in Belgrade, Serbia. Plasma miR210-3p, miR518b and cel-miR-39 as a spike-in control were measured by ddPCR.
MiR518b was significantly elevated in preeclampsia compared to a healthy pregnancy (P = 0.034; 0.302(0.217–0.421) vs. 0.171(0.110–0.266)). MiR210-3p showed no significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.951). The adjustment of miR518b was made for a gestational age and smoking status and the difference between the preeclampsia and healthy pregnancy group was more significant (P = 0.026; 0.300(0.216–0.419) vs. 0.172(0.121–0.245)).
Plasma miR-518b was significantly higher in the group of preeclampsia patients with proteinuria above the 75th percentile for the group (P = 0.033), in women who smoked (P = 0.039), and was positively related to uric acid in preeclampsia (P = 0.018, r = 0.536). Plasma miR518b was able to significantly discriminate between preeclampsia and healthy pregnancy, yielding AUC of 0.712 (95%CI:0.539–0.891), P = 0.028.
In this study plasma microRNA were measured for the first time in preeclampsia and healthy pregnancies with ddPCR. Placenta-specific miR-518b could serve as a potential biomarker for discriminating preeclampsia and healthy pregnancy, which should be confirmed on a larger study population. This study has failed to confirm the same potential for miR210-3p.
ABSTRACT
Ciliopathies are genetically heterogeneous disorders characterized by variable expressivity and overlaps between different disease entities. This is exemplified by the short rib‐polydactyly ...syndromes, Jeune, Sensenbrenner, and Mainzer‐Saldino chondrodysplasia syndromes. These three syndromes are frequently caused by mutations in intraflagellar transport (IFT) genes affecting the primary cilia, which play a crucial role in skeletal and chondral development. Here, we identified mutations in IFT140, an IFT complex A gene, in five Jeune asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy (JATD) and two Mainzer‐Saldino syndrome (MSS) families, by screening a cohort of 66 JATD/MSS patients using whole exome sequencing and targeted resequencing of a customized ciliopathy gene panel. We also found an enrichment of rare IFT140 alleles in JATD compared with nonciliopathy diseases, implying putative modifier effects for certain alleles. IFT140 patients presented with mild chest narrowing, but all had end‐stage renal failure under 13 years of age and retinal dystrophy when examined for ocular dysfunction. This is consistent with the severe cystic phenotype of Ift140 conditional knockout mice, and the higher level of Ift140 expression in kidney and retina compared with the skeleton at E15.5 in the mouse. IFT140 is therefore a major cause of cono‐renal syndromes (JATD and MSS). The present study strengthens the rationale for IFT140 screening in skeletal ciliopathy spectrum patients that have kidney disease and/or retinal dystrophy.
Jeune Asphyxiating Thoracic Dysplasia (JATD) is a rare recessive ciliary chondrodysplasia associated with death in infancy due to respiratory failure, and extraskeletal symptoms also occur in some patients. This large next generation sequencing study in 66 JATD and Mainzer‐Saldino syndrome (MSS) families reveals that mutations in the intraflagellar transport protein IFT140 cause MSS and are a frequent cause of JATD with retinal and kidney symptoms but mild thorax phenotype, providing for the first time a clinically significant genotype‐phenotype association in JATD.
Traditional methods in cell proliferation studies are based on immunohistochemical detection of proliferating cells in the target tissue. Since they are time consuming, optimization of novel, more ...efficient methods is important for large scale proliferation studies. In this study, we aimed to optimize the isolation of single epithelial rat forestomach cells for flow cytometry. As a marker of cellular proliferation we used the Ki-67 antibody to detect this nuclear protein expressed in proliferating cells. We also performed immunohistochemical detection of Ki-67 positive cells and propidium iodide staining to validate the results. 3-tert- butyl -4-hydroxyanisole was used as the positive control to ensure cellular proliferation. The results showed that isolation of epithelial cells with collagenase, trypsin and cell strainer ensures great cell viability (>95%) and the purity of the samples. Flow cytometry and immunostaining with the Ki-67 antibody indicated that 3-tert- butyl-4-hydroxyanisole treatment leads to a significant increase in proliferation. A significant positive correlation was observed between the results obtained by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry, but the flow cytometric data had a smaller measurement error, suggesting the equal sensitivity and greater accuracy of this method. Propidium iodide staining showed that the percentage of cells in the G2+S phase of the cell cycle correlated positively with the percentage of Ki-67 positive cells assessed by flow cytometry, indicating that Ki-67 positive cells reflect an active dividing cell pool. We conclude that the isolation of forestomach epithelial cells described is a simple and reliable method for obtaining viable cells for use in flow cytometry. Compared to immunohistochemistry, flow cytometric detection of the Ki-67 antigen is equally sensitive, but much faster and provides more accurate results.
Introduction. Partial trisomy of chromosome 12 long arm is rare condition with significant clinical impact and is usually diagnosed postnatally. Case report. We present prenatal sonographic findings ...and molecular cytogenetic characterization of partial trisomy 12q and partial monosomy 2q in two consecutive pregnancies of a healthy non-consanguineous couple. A 35-year-old pregnant woman G3P1A1 was referred to genetic counseling due to sonographic anomalies detected in the fetus. First trimester ultrasound examination revealed hyperechogenic focus in the left cardiac ventricle, single umbilical artery, hyperechogenic bowel and unilateral clubfoot with knee joint ankylosis. Previous pregnancy of the couple was terminated at 26th gestation weeks due to multiple fetal anomalies: bilateral ventriculomegaly, corpus callosum hypoplasia, single umbilical artery and clubfoot. In G3P1A1, amniocentesis was performed and cytogenetic analyses revealed a derivative chromosome 2. Subsequent cytogenetic analyses of parental lymphocytes showed that paternal karyotype was normal, while maternal karyotype showed a der(2). Metaphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) studies demonstrated partial trisomy 12q24.2?12qter and partial monosomy 2q37.3?2qter in the fetus, resulting from an unbalanced segregation of a maternal balanced translocation t(2;12)(q37.3;q24.2). To date, this is the first such prenatally detected case. Literature search revealed three more cases of prenatally detected partial trisomy 12q and anomalies described were consistent with ones detected in present case. Our findings contribute to further clinical delineation of partial trisomy 12q. Conclusion. Prenatal detection of single umbilical artery, clubfoot, arthogryposis and ventriculomegaly should alert suspicion to chromosome 12q aberrations.
Fanconi anemia (FA) is a chromosomal instability syndrome characterized by increased frequency of chromosomal breakages, chromosomal radial figures and accelerated telomere shortening. In this work ...we performed detailed molecular-cytogenetic characterization of breakpoints in primary lymphocytes of FA-D2 patients in different stages of the disease using fluorescent in situ hybridization.
We found that chromosomal breakpoints co-localize on the molecular level with common fragile sites, whereas their distribution pattern depends on the severity of the disease. Telomere quantitative fluorescent in situ hybridization revealed that telomere fusions and radial figures, especially radials which involve telomere sequences are the consequence of critically shortened telomeres that increase with the disease progression and could be considered as a predictive parameter during the course of the disease. Sex chromosomes in FA cells are also involved in radial formation indicating that specific X chromosome regions share homology with autosomes and also could serve as repair templates in resolving DNA damage.
FA-D2 chromosomal breakpoints co-localize with common fragile sites, but their distribution pattern depends on the disease stage. Telomere fusions and radials figures which involve telomere sequences are the consequence of shortened telomeres, increase with disease progression and could be of predictive value.
The aim of this study was to estimate substitution rate and imprints of natural selection on parvovirus B19 genotype 1. Studied datasets included 137 near complete coding B19 genomes (positions 665 ...to 4851) for phylogenetic and substitution rate analysis and 146 and 214 partial genomes for selection analyses in open reading frames ORF1 and ORF2, respectively, collected 1973-2012 and including 9 newly sequenced isolates from Serbia. Phylogenetic clustering assigned majority of studied isolates to G1A. Nucleotide substitution rate for total coding DNA was 1.03 (0.6-1.27) x 10
substitutions/site/year, with higher values for analyzed genome partitions. In spite of the highest evolutionary rate, VP2 codons were found to be under purifying selection with rare episodic positive selection, whereas codons under diversifying selection were found in the unique part of VP1, known to contain B19 immune epitopes important in persistent infection. Analyses of overlapping gene regions identified nucleotide positions under opposite selective pressure in different ORFs, suggesting complex evolutionary mechanisms of nucleotide changes in B19 viral genomes.
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