Prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Saudi Arabia

To assess the prevalence of epidemiologically defined chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] in Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional, observational, population-based survey of COPD was conducted between June 2010 and December 2011 across the country of Saudi Arabia. A total of 56,000 randomly selected telephone numbers were called, which identified 10,001 eligible subjects; of whom 9,779 agreed to participate. A screening questionnaire included 6 questions related to cigarette consumption and water-pipe use was administered to each participant. Subjects with positive screening results were invited to provide input for a detailed COPD questionnaire. The adjusted proportion of subjects who reported a current, or past smoking history was 27.9%. Gender specific smoking rates adjusted by age were 38.7% [95% confidence interval [CI]: 37.5-39.9%] in men, and 7.4% [95% CI: 6.5-8.3%] in women. The epidemiological definition of symptomatic COPD was met by a total of 249 subjects. The age and gender-adjusted prevalence of COPD was 2.4% [95% CI: 2.1-2.7%]. Overall, COPD was more frequently documented [p<0.0001] in men [3.5% [95% CI: 3-4%]] than in women [1% [95% CI: 0.7-1.3%]]. The prevalence of epidemiologically defined COPD in the general population of Saudi Arabia is 2.4%, which is lower than that reported in industrialized countries

Transformation and expression of Na+/H+antiporter vacuolar [AtNHX1] gene in tobacco plants under salt stress

Saline soil is a serious problem worldwide, and it is necessary to improve the salt tolerance of plants to avoid the progressive deterioration of saline soil. Agrobacterium based system was employed to transfer a vacuolar Na[+]/H[+] antiporter [AtNHX1] gene into tobacco leaf discs. Hundred thirty putative transgenic tobacco plants were obtained. The leaf painting assay was applied to select the transformants containing the bar gene [basta herbicide resistance]. In addition, the stable integration of the AtNHX1 gene was confirmed by PCR analysis. The expression of encoding sequence AtNHX1 gene was detected by the accumulation of salt in the transgenic tobacco plants under the salt stress conditions. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing the AtNHX1gene were able to grow in the presence of 150 to 300 mM NaCl and accumulated significantly at high concentrations of sodium ions in the leaves. However, the wild type plants could not tolerate a concentration up to 150 mM NaCl. This remarkable high salt tolerance in transgenic tobacco plants can be helpful in the future for applying important phytoremdiation plants in high saline lands

Overexpression of glutaredoxin-2 from cyanobacterium synechocystis PCC 6803 in Escherichia coli conferring enhanced salt stress tolerance

Glutaredoxin [Grx], widely found in bacteria, plants, and mammalian cells, is an electron carrier for ribonucleotide reductase and a general glutathione-disulfide reductase of importance for redox regulation. Cyanobacterium Synechocystis strain PCC 6803 contains two genes [slr1562 and ssr2061] encoding two glutaredoxins [Grx1 and Grx2, respectively]. The amino acid sequences deduced from both proteins share high identity with those of Grxs from other organisms. In the present study, we found that the steady-state transcript levels of ssr2061 were increased in the wild-type of Cyanobacterium cells under oxidative stress conditions imposed by high salinity [NaCl], chilling or application of H[2]O[2], methylviologen or t-butyl hydroperoxide. Moreover, the protein Grx2 encoded by ssr2061 was successfully overexpressed as a soluble fraction in Escherichia coli JM109. The transformed Escherichia coli cells showed high tolerance to NaCl [over than 700 mM] mediating growth inhibition compared to cells transformed with the vector alone]

Density lipoprotein-cholesterol versus lipidogram in the prediction of coronary heart disease

120 patients suffering from ischaemic heart disease and 20 healthy control subjects were biochemically investigated by two different techniques. The plasma total lipids, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and the triglyceride were estimated while the ratios of total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol were calculated. The lipid profile obtained by the electrophoretic technique was compared with the results obtained by the simple biochemical methods and the former technique proved to be a less sensitive tool in assessing CHD risk. In addition, the results indicated that in all CHD-patients the HDL-cholesterol was persistantly and significantly decreased in CHD while the plasma triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL and VLDL cholesterol were significantly increased. From the data presented in tables 1 and 2, we reached the conclusion that the determination of HDL cholesterol and not the total cholesterol is the single most powerful lipid predictor of CHD risk and a lipid profile based on the estimation of plasma HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride is a logically preferable, reliable and economical method of assessing the CHD risk associated with lipid characteristics

Protein energy malnutrition I Hydroxyproline index, serum hydroxyproline and magnesium as biochemical parameters of nutritional status

93 malnourished and 24 control children were studied; 38 cases were followed-up and 8 cases died during treatment. The mean hydroxy-proline index was 2.9 +/- 0.88 in the control and less than 2.0 in the malnourished children. In pre-kwashiorkor, the index gave the highest value among the malnourished children, and thus pre-kwashiorkor could be selected from other varieties of PEM. Serum magnesium in PEM did not show significant changes from the control level on admission. Follow-up study showed a slight elevation in serum hydroxy-proline concentration in marasmus and marasmic-kwashiorkor during the treatment. The seriously affected cases showed an abnormal elevation in serum hydroxy-proline level after the 3rd week of treatment [from 87 +/- 8.5 to 134 +/- 28 micro g/ml]. Serum magnesium level was remarkably decreased [from 1.66 +/- 0.41 to 0.88 +/- 0.18 m.Eq/1]. As a result, the seriously affected children could also be detected during the treatment

Protein-energy malnutrition II Serum amino acids as a biochemical tool for the differentiation between the different types of protein energy malnutrition

The determination of essential aminoacids "E" is a more sensitive tool than the non-essential "N" or N/E ratio, since the concentration of "E" was remarkably reduced in all PEM and that the reduction differs in its degree according to the type of the disease. Also the estimation of "E" can be used for the differentiation between pre-kwashiorkor and other PEM types. The N/E ratio can be used cautiously for the differentiation between the malnourished and well-nourished cases, since all PEM cases have N/E ratio mostly above 2.0 while the control is less than 2.0. The N/E can also differentiate between pre-kwashiorkor and marasmus on one hand and kwashiorkor and marasmic-kwashiorkor on the other hand. All types of PEM were cured by treatment except 8 cases who were seriously affected and did not respond to therapy. It is thus concluded that "the fatal cases" could be detected during treatment when poor response for the correction of serum aminoacids particularly the essentials is noticeable