Negative Correlation of Serum Adiponectin Level with Aortic Stiffness in Elderly Diabetic Persons.

Adiponectin has anti-inflammatory activity against atherosclerosis. Aortic stiffness is a common manifestation of atherosclerosis in diabetes mellitus and elderly persons. This study aimed to evaluate whether low serum adiponectin levels were associated with aortic stiffness in geriatric diabetic patients. Blood samples were obtained from 130 diabetic participants aged ≥ 65 years. We defined high aortic stiffness based on a carotid−femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) of >10 m/s. Circulating adiponectin concentrations were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Sixty-six participants (50.8%) had aortic stiffness. Patients with aortic stiffness had lower serum adiponectin concentrations than those in the control group (p < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the adiponectin level (odds ratio: 0.939, 95% confidence interval: 0.898−0.981, p = 0.005) was an independent predictor of aortic stiffness in elderly diabetic persons. Multivariate forward stepwise linear regression analysis also demonstrated that the adiponectin level (ß = −0.256, adjusted R2 change = 0.100, p = 0.003) was negatively associated with cfPWV values in older diabetic patients. In conclusion, serum adiponectin is negatively correlated with cfPWV and is an independent predictor of aortic stiffness in elderly diabetic persons.

Multiplex PCR for rapid detection of pseudorabies virus, porcine parvovirus and porcine circoviruses.

A multiplex PCR (mPCR) assay was developed and subsequently evaluated for its effectiveness as a means to simultaneously detect multiple viral infections of swine. Specific primers for each of four common DNA viruses, namely, pseudorabies virus (PRV), porcine circovirus type I (PCV1), porcine circovirus type II (PCV2), and porcine parvovirus (PPV), were used for testing procedure. The assay was shown to be highly sensitive in that as little as 10(-4) ng of each of the respective amplicons (approximately equal to 10,000 molecules) was detected when a composite of all four viruses (including both field and gene-deleted permutations of PRV) was tested as a single sample. It was also effective for detecting one or more of these same viruses in various combinations in specimens including lymph nodes, lungs, spleens, and tonsils collected from clinically ill pigs, and in specimens in spleen collected from aborted fetuses. The relative efficiency (compared to performing separate assays for each virus) and apparent sensitivity of mPCR suggest its potential application for routine molecular diagnostic purposes.