Impact of uric acid on incident hypertension: Sex-specific analysis in different age groups.

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the association of serum uric acid (UA) levels with the risk of incident hypertension among different age groups in men and women using a single large Japanese general cohort. The present study is based on annual health check-up program in Gunma, Japan. We studied 12,029 participants (mean age, 48 â€‹± â€‹9 years old; 31% women) free of prevalent cardiovascular disease and hypertension at baseline (2009). Hypertension was defined by self-report, hypertensive medication use, or measured BP â€‹> â€‹140/90 â€‹mmHg â€‹at each visit. Discrete proportional hazards regression model was used to evaluate the association of UA level at baseline with incident hypertension through 2012 adjusted for age, gender, baseline blood pressure, and other CVD risk factors among different age decade groups in men and women. During follow-up of 3 years, 12% of the cohort (n â€‹= â€‹1457) developed hypertension. UA was strongly associated with incident hypertension in the multivariable model in all participants. In age-stratified analysis, participants below 50 years of age in men had the significant association of UA with incident hypertension, whereas participants above 50 years did not. In women, participants above 40 years had the significant association, whereas participants below 40 years did not. The present data suggest that UA level is an independent predictor for incident hypertension among middle aged men below 50 years old and middle aged and the elderly women above 40 years.

Artificially acquired chlorophyll b is highly acceptable to the thylakoid-lacking cyanobacterium, Gloeobacter violaceus PCC 7421.

Unicellular cyanobacterium Gloeobacter violaceus is an only known oxygenic photosynthetic organism that lacks thylakoid membrane. Molecular phylogenetic analyses indicate that G. violaceus is an early-branching cyanobacterium within cyanobacterial clade. Therefore, the photosynthetic system of G. violaceus is considered to be partly similar to that of the ancestral cyanobacteria that would lack thylakoid membrane. G. violaceus possesses chlorophyll (Chl) a as the only chlorophyll species like most cyanobacteria. It was proposed that the ancestral oxygenic photosynthetic organism had not only Chl a and phycobilins but also Chl b. However, no organism which contains both Chl a and Chl b and lacks thylakoid membrane has been found in nature. Therefore, we introduced the chlorophyllide a oxygenase gene responsible for Chl b biosynthesis into G. violaceus. In the resultant transformant, Chl b accumulated at approximately 11% of total Chl independent of growth phase. Photosystem I complexes isolated from the transformant contained Chl b at 9.9% of total Chl. The presence of Chl b in the photosystem I complexes did not inhibit trimer formation. Furthermore, time-resolved fluorescence spectrum demonstrated that Chl b transferred energy to Chl a in the photosystem I complexes and did not disturb the energy transfer among the Chl a molecules. These results show that G. violaceus is tolerant to artificially produced Chl b and suggest the flexibility of photosystem for Chl composition in the ancestral oxygenic photosynthetic organism.

Establishment of the reporter system for a thylakoid-lacking cyanobacterium, Gloeobacter violaceus PCC 7421.

Gloeobacter violaceus PCC 7421 is considered, by molecular phylogenetic analyses, to be an early-branching cyanobacterium within the cyanobacterial clade. G. violaceus is the only known oxygenic photosynthetic organism that lacks thylakoid membranes. There is only one report on the development of a transformation system for G. violaceus [H. Guo, X. Xu, Prog. Nat. Sci. 14 (2004) 31-35] and further studies using the system have not been reported. In the present study, we succeeded in introducing an expression vector (pKUT1121) derived from a broad-host-range plasmid, RSF1010, into G. violaceus by conjugation. The frequency of transformation of our system is significantly higher than that described in the previous report. In addition, luciferase heterologously expressed in G. violaceus functioned as a reporter. The established system will promote the molecular genetic studies on G. violaceus.