Index of opportunity for natural selection among the Gowdas of Kodagahalli village, Karnataka, India.

BACKGROUND: In order to understand how selection is operating in the Gowda population, the index of opportunity for selection was calculated and the present findings were compared with some related findings from other South Indian (SI) populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Crow (1958) and the modified method by Johnston and Kensinger (1971) were used for the present purpose. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The index of total selection intensity (I) was found to be moderate taking into consideration the range for many Indian populations. Considering certain differences in fertility and mortality heritable, it appears that natural selection play an important role in shaping the genetic constitution of the Gowda population. Analysis of data indicates that the index due to fertility seems to contribute more towards selection than mortality. This trend might be because of better living condition and health-care system among the Gowdas which have a positive impact on the lower contribution of mortality for the evolution mechanism of the Gowda population through natural selection.

CD14 C-159T polymorphism and its association with chronic lung diseases: A pilot study on isocyanate exposed population of Central India.

CONTEXT: CD14 functions as a multifunctional receptor for bacterial cell wall components including endotoxin and lipopolysaccharide and is likely to influence the cytokine profile and subsequent immunoglobulin E production in response to antigen/allergen contact in allergic phenotypes. AIMS: The present study was to investigate genetic polymorphism in CD14 gene - 159C/T, which may be one of the risk factor for increased prevalence of Chronic Lung Diseases in the Central India. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Survivors of Methyl isocyanates toxicity in Bhopal still suffering from various respiratory ailments were examined. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was performed to determine the polymorphism of C-159T. RESULTS: The genotype and allelic frequencies were in Hardy-Weinberg’s equilibrium. Prevalence of CC, CT, and TT were 5.5%, 22.2% and 9.25% respectively in asthmatics; 16.6%, 20.3% and 5.5% respectively in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and 5.5%, 14.8% and 1.85 respectively among interstitial lung disorder (ILD) patients; whereas the control cohort with no methyl isocyanate exposure displayed (CC, CT, and TT) cytosine, thymine as 2%, 1.6% and 2% respectively. Increased risk of Asthma among those carrying TT genotype and T allele (odds ratio [OR] =2.61 and 2.02 respectively). CONCLUSION: COPD risk significantly found among those with CC genotype and C allele (OR = 2.81 and 1.50 respectively), whereas ILD risk found significantly among CT genotype and C allele (OR = 1.75 and 1.40 respectively). Therefore, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) C-159T polymorphism in CD14 gene might be a risk factor for development of CLD in this population.

Null association between ACE gene I/D polymorphism and diabetic nephropathy among multiethnic Malaysian subjects.

BACKGROUND: Wide inter-ethnic allelic variations of the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) i nsertion-deletion (I/D) gene polymorphism were thought to be responsible for the conflicting gene–diabetic nephropathy disease association worldwide. We have investigated the genetic susceptibility of the ACE gene to diabetic nephropathy in the multiethnic Malaysian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 137 healthy (control) and 256 diabetic subjects were recruited. The diabetic subjects were further subdivided according to their nephropathy status based on urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Triple primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for ACE I/D genotyping. Subsequently, populationwide genetic analysis and gene-disease association studies were performed. RESULTS: The genotype frequencies in all subgroups were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Similar allelic and genotypic frequency of ACE I/D gene polymorphism was observed between healthy controls versus pooled type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) subjects, and normoalbuminuria versus microalbuminuria, macroalbuminuria and End Stage Renal Failure (ESRF) (P > 0.05). Neither ethnicity nor gender exerted any influence on the ACE I/D gene polymorphism (P > 0.05), with the exception of the Chinese ethnic group which exhibited a higher frequency of ID genotype (P = 0.042). A multinomial logistic regression model showed that predictive factors including age, systolic blood pressure (SBP), high density lipoprotein (HDL) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) were independently associated with diabetic nephropathy, in that order. CONCLUSION: The I/D polymorphism of the ACE gene is not significantly associated with both T2DM and/or diabetic nephropathy in this Malaysian population regardless of ethnicity and gender.