Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus and Prediabetes in Dalseong-gun, Daegu City, Korea

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to determine the population-based prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and prediabetes in a rural district of Daegu City, Korea. METHODS: Between August and November 2003, a community-based health survey of adults aged 20 years and older was performed in the rural district of Dalseong-gun in Daegu City. A total of 1,806 of all eligible individuals agreed to participate. Fasting plasma glucose was measured in all participants. Two hour oral glucose tolerance was measured in the 1,773 participants for whom there was neither an established diagnosis of DM nor evidence of DM according to fasting glucose levels. The prevalence of DM and prediabetes was determined according to the 2003 criteria of the American Diabetes Association. Subjects with prediabetes were classified into one of three categories of glucose intolerance: isolated impaired fasting glucose (IFG); isolated impaired glucose tolerance (IGT); or combined IFG and IGT. RESULTS: The prevalence of DM was 12.2%. The highest prevalence rates were observed in subjects in their seventies. A total of 34.7% of all subjects who were assigned a diagnosis of DM in the present study had not been diagnosed previously. The prevalence of prediabetes was 22.7%. The highest prevalence rates were observed in subjects in their fifties. CONCLUSION: The present study identified prevalence rates of 12.2% for DM (age-standardized prevalence rate [ASR], 6.8%), and 22.7% for prediabetes (ASR 18.5%). These results emphasize the need for community health promotion strategies to prevent or delay the onset of DM in individuals with prediabetes.

Protection by Chrysanthemum zawadskii extract from liver damage of mice caused by carbon tetrachloride is maybe mediated by modulation of QR activity

Our previous study demonstrated that methanolic extract of Chrysanthemum zawadskii Herbich var. latilobum Kitamura (Compositae) has the potential to induce detoxifying enzymes such as NAD(P)H:(quinone acceptor) oxidoreductase 1 (EC 1.6.99.2) (NQO1, QR) and glutathione S-transferase (GST). In this study we further fractionated methanolic extract of Chrysanthemum zawadskii and investigated the detoxifying enzyme-inducing potential of each fraction. The fraction (CZ-6) shown the highest QR-inducing activity was found to contain (+)-(3S,4S,5R,8S)-(E)-8-acetoxy-4-hydroxy-3-isovaleroyloxy-2-(hexa-2,4-diynyliden)-1,6-dioxaspiro [4,5] decane and increased QR enzyme activity in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, CZ-6 fraction caused a dose-dependent enhancement of luciferase activity in HepG2-C8 cells generated by stably transfecting antioxidant response element-luciferase gene construct, suggesting that it induces antioxidant/detoxifying enzymes through antioxidant response element (ARE)-mediated transcriptional activation of the relevant genes. Although CZ-6 fraction failed to induce hepatic QR in mice over the control, it restored QR activity suppressed by CCl4 treatment to the control level. Hepatic injury induced by CCl4 was also slightly protected by pretreatment with CZ-6. In conclusion, although CZ-6 fractionated from methanolic extract of Chrysanthemum zawadskii did not cause a significant QR induction in mice organs such as liver, kidney, and stomach, it showed protective effect from liver damage caused by CCl4.

Significance of p27(kip1) as potential biomarker for intracellular oxidative status

Our previous proteomic study demonstrated that oxidative stress and antioxidant delphinidin regulated the cellular level of p27(kip1) (referred to as p27) as well as some heat shock proteins in human colon cancer HT 29 cells. Current study was conducted to validate and confirm the regulation of these proteins using both in vitro and in vivo systems. The level of p27 was decreased by hydrogen peroxide in a dose-dependent manner in human colon carcinoma HCT 116 (p53-positive) cells while it was increased upon exposure to hydrogen peroxide in HT 29 (p53-negative) cells. However, high concentration of hydrogen peroxide (100 micrometer) downregulated p27 in both cell lines, but delphindin, one of antioxidative anthocyanins, enhanced the level of p27 suppressed by 100 micrometer hydrogen peroxide. ICR mice were injected with varying concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, delphinidin and both. Western blot analysis for the mouse large intestinal tissue showed that the expression of p27 was upregulated by 25 mg/kg BW hydrogen peroxide. To investigate the association of p27 regulation with hypoxia-inducible factor 1-beta (HIF-1beta), the level of p27 was analyzed in wild-type mouse hepatoma hepa1c1c7 and Aryl Hydrocarbon Nuclear Translocator (arnt, HIF-1beta)-defective mutant BPRc1 cells in the absence and presence of hydrogen peroxide and delphinidin. While the level of p27 was responsive to hydrogen peroxide and delphinidin, it remained unchanged in BPRc1, suggesting that the regulation of p27 requires functional HIF-1beta. We also found that hydrogen peroxide and delphinidin affected PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway which is one of upstream regulators of HIFs. In conclusion, hydrogen peroxide and antioxidant delphinidin seem to regulate intracellular level of p27 through regulating HIF-1 level which is, in turn, governed by its upstream regulators comprising of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. The results should also encourage further study for the potential of p27 as a biomarker for intracellular oxidative or antioxidant status.