Diagnosis of impaired glucose tolerance in hypertensive patients in daily clinical practice.

Many patients with hypertension suffer from impaired glucose tolerance or type 2 diabetes mellitus. Although these diagnoses are generally simple and reliable, it is more difficult to diagnose impaired glucose tolerance. As the gold standard (oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)) is complicated to perform, a simpler alternative would be useful. The aims of the Pre-Diabetes Score study are to correlate demographic and/or laboratory parameters that are clinically simple to determine with the results of the OGTT and to determine the diagnostic significance of the combinations of parameters with regard to impaired glucose tolerance. A total of 260 patients were included in the evaluation; 39% had impaired glucose tolerance and 12% had diabetes mellitus. A combination of HbA1c of > or =6%, a venous fasting glucose of > or =110 mg/dl, an age of > or =55 years, a systolic blood pressure of > or =140 mmHg and an enlarged waist size is highly predictive of impaired glucose tolerance.

Gene product dsbA of bacteriophage T4 binds to late promoters and enhances late transcription.

Gene product 33 of phage T4 is known to be essential in late transcription. Upstream from gene 33 and overlapping its 5' terminal sequence by 20 bp, we identified an open reading frame coding for a binding protein for double-stranded DNA (DsbA). Gene product DsbA is composed of 89 amino acid residues with a Mr of 10376 kDa. We purified this protein to homogeneity from over-expressing cells. Gel retardation assays reveal that it binds to DNA and footprint analyses disclose that it interacts preferentially with T4 late promoter regions. At the sites of binding the protein introduces nicks in double-stranded DNA. In vitro transcription assays performed with T4 late modified RNA polymerase on restriction fragments harbouring a T4 late promoter region prove that gene product DsbA enhances transcription from these promoter regions in the presence of gene product 33. Gene dsbA is distinct from gene das which maps close to this genomic region.

[Forensic application of the polymorphism of coagulation factor XIIIB]. / Zur forensischen Anwendung des Polymorphismus des Gerinnungsfaktors XIII B.

Gene frequencies of coagulation factor XIIIB polymorphism were determined in a random population sample of east Westphalia (n = 417). Furthermore, mendelian inheritance of alleles was examined in 60 families. Determinations were made after treatment of serum samples with neuraminidase by immunofixation on agarose gels. All six phenotypes were observed in our population sample. The gene frequencies were: FXIIIB1 = 0.71, FXIIIB2 = 0.11, FXIIIB3 = 0.18. The family data confirm the hypothesis of autosomal inheritance of three common alleles and disprove the two-allele model of Kera et al. [5].