Novel lipid indicators and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among Chinese hypertensive patients: findings from the Guangzhou Heart Study.

BACKGROUND: Data are limited on whether several easily measured indices are independent predictors of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in hypertensive patients. This study aimed to assess the association of hypertriglyceridemic-waist phenotype, triglyceride glucose (TyG) index, lipid accumulation product (LAP), and visceral adiposity index (VAI) with T2DM risk in hypertensive patients. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 5321 hypertensive patients from the baseline survey of the Guangzhou Heart Study. Face-to-face questionnaire survey, physical examination, and fasting blood sample collection were completed for all subjects. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated by using the logistic regression model. The potential nonlinear relationship was examined using restricted cubic spline regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of T2DM was 19.98% among hypertensive patients. After adjusting for confounders, participants with elevated triglyceride levels and enlarged waist circumference (HTGW) were associated with a 2.57-fold risk of T2DM (OR 2.57, 95% CI 2.05, 3.23). When comparing with subjects within the lowest quartile of the indices, those in the highest quartile of TyG, LAP, and VAI were associated with 5.35-fold (95% CI 4.33, 6.64), 2.65-fold (95% CI 2.11, 3.34), and 2.17-fold (95% CI 1.77, 2.67) risk of T2DM after adjusting for confounders. Every 1-unit increment of TyG, LAP, and VAI was associated with 81%, 38%, and 31% increased risk of T2DM, respectively. The nonlinear association was observed for TyG, LAP, and VAI (all P Non-linear < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results found that among hypertensive patients, HTGW and a higher level of TyG, LAP, and VAI were associated with an elevated risk of T2DM. The findings suggested that HTGW, TyG, LAP, and VAI may serve as simple and effective tools for T2DM risk assessment in the prevention and management of main chronic diseases.

The chloroplasts genomic analyses of four specific Caragana species.

BACKGROUND: Many species of the genus Caragana have been used as wind prevention and sand fixation plants. They are also important traditional Chinese medicine, and ethnic medicine resource plant. Thus, chloroplast genomes (cp-genome) of some of these important species must be studied. METHODS: In this study, we analyzed the chloroplast genomes of C. jubata, C. erinacea, C. opulens, and C. bicolor, including their structure, repeat sequences, mutation sites, and phylogeny. RESULTS: The size of the chloroplast genomes was between 127,862 and 132,780 bp, and such genomes contained 112 genes (30 tRNA, 4 rRNA, and 78 protein-coding genes), 43 of which were photosynthesis-related genes. The total guanine + cytosine (G+C) content of four Caragana species was between 34.49% and 35.15%. The four Caragana species all lacked inverted repeats and can be classified as inverted repeat-lacking clade (IRLC). Of the anticipated genes of the four chloroplast genomes, introns were discovered in 17 genes, most of which were inserted by one intron. A total of 50 interspersed repeated sequences (IRSs) were found among them, 58, 29, 61, and 74 simple sequences repeats were found in C. jubata, C. bicolor, C. opulens, and C. erinacea, respectively. Analyses of sequence divergence showed that some intergenic regions (between trnK-UUU and rbcl; trnF-GAA and ndhJ; trnL-CAA and trnT-UGU; rpoB and trnC-GCA; petA and psbL; psbE and pebL; and sequences of rpoC, ycf1, and ycf2) exhibited a high degree of variations. A phylogenetic tree of eight Caragana species and another 10 legume species was reconstructed using full sequences of the chloroplast genome. CONCLUSIONS: (1) Chloroplast genomes can be used for the identification and classification of Caragana species. (2) The four Caragana species have highly similar cpDNA G+C content. (3) IRS analysis of the chloroplast genomes showed that these four species, similar to the chloroplast genome of most legumes, lost IRLC regions. (4) Comparative cp-genomic analysis suggested that the cp genome structure of the Caragana genus was well conserved in highly variable regions, which can be used to exploit markers for the identification of Caragana species and further phylogenetic study. (5) Results of phylogenetic analyses were in accordance with the current taxonomic status of Caragana. The phylogenetic relationship of Caragana species was partially consistent with elevation and geographical distribution.

Integrating factors associated with hypertensive patients' self-management using structural equation modeling: a cross-sectional study in Guangdong, China.

PURPOSE: Hypertension is considered a major public health issue worldwide because of its high frequency and concomitant risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Chronic-disease self-management has been proven to be cost-effective, but influencing factors and pathways remain complex and unclear. The purpose of this study was to integrate factors associated with hypertension self-management to provide a theoretical reference for community hypertension management. METHODS: A total of 268 community-dwelling hypertensive patients were enrolled in a cross-sectional study conducted from July to September in 2017. A questionnaire on demographic-disease characteristics, disease knowledge, social support, self-efficacy, and self-management was completed by patients. Structural equation modeling was performed to verify multiple factors in self-management based on the self-efficacy theory. RESULTS: The final model showed a good fit to sample data, ie, younger patients with lower CVD risk, shorter disease course, and less disease knowledge and social support predicted less self-efficacy, less hypertension self-management, and less controlled hypertension. Furthermore, social support was negatively correlated with age, CVD risk, and disease course and positively with disease knowledge. CONCLUSION: Medication adherence is the lowest dimension in self-management, and self-efficacy is vital to consider in the development of self-management interventions. Self-management education and mutual-help groups may be potential solutions with the power of technology. Younger patients with lower CVD risk and shorter disease course are vulnerable and need more attention.

[HPLC Fingerprint of Anisodus tanguticus Root].

OBJECTIVE: To establish an HPLC fingerprint of Anisodus tanguticus root for its quality control. METHODS: The analysis was carried out on a Ultimate AQ C18 (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 µm) column with the gradient elution of acetonitrile and KH2PO4 buffer soution, whose pH was adjusted to 3.0 with phosphoric acid. The flow rate, column temperature, detection wavelength and injection volume was 1.0 mL/min, 30 degrees C, 210 nm and 10 µL separately. The similarity evaluation and principal component analysis were used to analyze HPLC fingerprint of Anisodus tanguticus root. RESULTS: HPLC fingerprint of Anisodus tanguticus root was established with 15 common peaks by determining 18 batches of Anisodus tanguticus root samples. Four characteristic peaks, anisodine, scopolamine, anisodamine and anisodamine, were confirmed by comparing their retention time and UV spectrum with standard reference substances. The simiarities of 18 batches of Anisodus tanguticus root were between -0.891 and 0.987. Comprehensive evaluation scores of 18 batches of Anisodus tanguticus root were between -0.85 and 0.89 by principal component analysis. CONCLUSION: The established HPLC fingerprint has good precision, repeatability and stability, which can provide more comprehensive information for identification and quality control of Anisodus tanguticus root.