OBJECTIVE Patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) have a high risk of developing diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy and cardiovascular diseases. The contribution of gene polymorphisms of the renin angiotensin system to these complications is controversial and may differ among populations. METHODS In 257 Dutch IDDM patients (188 with urinary albumin excretion (UAE) <30 mg/24 h)...

Interleukin 12 (IL-12) is a proinflammatory cytokine composed by two chains, p40 and p35, that plays a key role in the promotion of a Th1 immune response in the gastrointestinal mucosa. An enhanced expression of IL-12 mRNA in gastric mucosa has been reported in individuals infected by Helicobacter pylori. The aim of our study was to assess whether a functional polymorphism located at position 1...

Antigen peptides are actively transported across the endoplasmic reticulum by the transporters associated with antigen presentation (TAP). TAP genes polymorphism could influence the selection process that determines which antigen peptides play a role in the pathogenesis of allergic rhinitis. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of TAP genes polymorphism with allergic rhiniti...

BACKGROUND The Y1102 polymorphism of the cardiac sodium channel (SCN5A) gene has been found in 13% of black Americans. It has been linked to lethal arrhythmias in black families with ventricular tachycardia. The prevalence of the Y1102 polymorphism in a series of sudden death in blacks is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS We investigated the incidence of the Y1102 polymorphism in a series of 289 s...

Asthma is an allergic disease characterized by hyperresponsiveness and chronic inflammation of the airway. The interleukin-4 (IL-4) gene and its single nucleotide polymorphisms are associated with asthma susceptibility in children. A case-control study was performed to evaluate the relationship between asthma risk and the IL-4 rs2243250 (589 C/T) and rs2070874 (107 T/C), and IL-4 receptor (IL-4...

The effect of cereal non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) on the gut microbial populations was studied in 5 growing pigs between 39-116 kg body weight according to a Latin square design. The diets were composed to contain different NSP levels. The control diet had a normal NSP content (139 g/kg dry matter (DM)), 2 diets had a low total amount of NSP (95 and 107 g/kg DM) and 2 diets had a high amoun...

BACKGROUND NAD(P)H quinine oxidoreductase (NQO1) plays an important role in the metabolism of several carcinogens contained in cigarettes. Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression had been detected in urinary bladder tumors. The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction of iNOS and NQO1 on bladder cancer (BC) risk stratified by cigarette smoking status. METHODS A total ...

Background—The Y1102 polymorphism of the cardiac sodium channel (SCN5A) gene has been found in 13% of black Americans. It has been linked to lethal arrhythmias in black families with ventricular tachycardia. The prevalence of the Y1102 polymorphism in a series of sudden death in blacks is unknown. Methods and Results—We investigated the incidence of the Y1102 polymorphism in a series of 289 sud...

Several findings link proteinase 3 (PR3) to small vessel vasculitis. Besides being a major target of anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibodies (ANCA), previous findings have shown increased circulating levels of PR3 in vasculitis patients, increased levels of neutrophil membrane-PR3 (mPR3) expression and a skewed distribution of the - 564 A/G polymorphism in the promotor region of the PR3 gene. In t...