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Previous studies suggested that blood fatty acids (FAs) might affect blood pressure (BP), but the findings have been inconclusive. This study evaluated the cross-sectional and prospective associations of erythrocyte FAs with BP in middle-aged and elderly Chinese individuals. Between 2008 and 2010, 1834 participants (1364 women and 470 men) aged 57 ± 5 y had baseline measurements taken of their erythrocyte FAs and BP. A total of 1477 participants (1103 women and 374 men) had their BP measured again after 3.09 ± 0.32 y (range: 2.91-3.26 y). In the cross-sectional analyses (n = 1834), the erythrocyte saturated FA (SFA) content was positively associated with BP, whereas total cis polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs), their subtypes cis n-3 (ω-3) PUFAs and cis n-6 (ω-6) PUFAs, and the PUFA-to-SFA ratio were inversely associated with BP (all P-trends < 0.05). The longitudinal results (n = 1477) showed marginally inverse associations between cis n-3 PUFAs and the n-3:n-6 PUFA ratio and BP. For individual cis n-3 PUFAs, higher contents of 20:5n-3, 22:5n-3, and 22:6n-3 were significantly associated with reduced increases in SBP over time (the mean change range between quartile 4 and quartile 1 was -0.917 to -0.749 mm Hg for SBP; all P-trends < 0.01), and 20:5n-3 was inversely associated with DBP change (the mean change between quartile 4 and quartile 1 was -0.631; P-trend < 0.001). Path analyses suggested that the associations between cis n-3 PUFAs and BP might be mediated by decreasing serum triglycerides (TGs) and body mass index (BMI). Our findings revealed that a higher content of cis n-3 PUFAs (mainly very long-chain cis n-3 PUFAs) may benefit BP progress, probably mediated by decreasing serum TGs and BMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship of triglycerides (TG) to the risk of death remains uncertain. The aim of this study was to determine the associations between blood triglyceride levels and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) mortality and all-cause mortality. Four databases were searched without language restriction for relevant studies: PubMed, ScienceDirect, EMBASE, and Google Scholar. All prospective cohort studies reporting an association between TG and CVDs or allcause mortality published before July 2013 were included. Risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted and pooled according to TG categories, unit TG, and logarithm of TG using a random-effects model with inverse-variance weighting. We identified 61 eligible studies, containing 17,018 CVDs deaths in 726,030 participants and 58,419 all-cause deaths in 330,566 participants. Twelve and fourteen studies, respectively, reported the effects estimates of CVDs and total mortality by TG categories. Compared to the referent (90-149 mg/dL), the pooled RRs (95% CI) of CVDs mortality for the lowest (< 90 mg/dL), borderline-high (150-199 mg/dL), and high TG (⩾ 200 mg/dL) groups were 0.83 (0.75 to 0.93), 1.15 (1.03 to 1.29), and 1.25 (1.05 to 1.50); for total mortality they were 0.94 (0.85 to 1.03), 1.09 (1.02 to 1.17), and 1.20 (1.04 to 1.38), respectively. The risks of CVDs and all-cause deaths were increased by 13% and 12% (p < 0.001) per 1-mmol/L TG increment in twenty-two and twenty-two studies reported RRs per unit TG, respectively. In conclusion, elevated blood TG levels were dose-dependently associated with higher risks of CVDs and all-cause mortality [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there have been numerous papers emphasizing the relationship between Glutathione S-transferases polymorphisms and bladder cancer risk, but the findings have not reached a consensus. The relationship between glutathione S-transferase T 1 null genotype and bladder cancer susceptibility is now even more disputable. Therefore, we present a meta-analysis of (nested) case–controlled, genotype-based studies (including 37 studies, 6,986 cases and 9,166 controls) examining this association. Using a fixed-effect model, statistically significant increase was observed between glutathione S-transferase T 1 deletion and bladder cancer risk for the overall studies (OR = 1.12; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04–1.21; P = 0.004 for Z test; I2 = 47.43 for heterogeneity). After adjusting the result using trim-and-fill method, the outcome still had significant difference with little downgrade (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.02–1.18). Three potential sources of heterogeneity including ethnicity, source of control and smoking status were also assessed. Minor increased correlation was found only in population-based studies (OR = 1.16; 95% CI = 1.03–1.30; I2 = 47.16). Our analysis suggests that glutathione S-transferase T 1 null status is associated with a modest increase in the risk of bladder cancer and the difference exiting in source of control has been confirmed. Due to limited sample size, various confounding variables as well as discrepancy in study design, a valid conclusion still cannot be confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractTo provide the hard-won information on HIV-1 polymorphism from inmates in prison and to study the genetic variation of HIV-1 strains, we analyzed the characterization of the nucleotide and corresponding protein sequences of naturally occurring nefsequences derived from 16 HIV-1-positive inmates from prisons in China. Nested PCR and DNA sequencing were used to determine nefsequences in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a distribution of the viral sequences among subtype B, CRF_BC, and CRF_AE, with subtype B accounting for more than half of the genotypes. When compared with the consensus sequence, a certain amino acid sequence variability was observed. However, most of the described neffunctional motifs were relatively well conserved in the majority of the sequences analyzed. Our results indicate that HIV-1 strains found in our study subjects may have a common origin and the description of motifs will produce important information for further studies of neffunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]