Association between alkaline phosphatase and hypertension in a rural Japanese population: The Nagasaki Islands study

Background: Although serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels have been associated with hypertension, and ALP is known as an enzyme affected by alcohol consumption, no study has been published on the associations between ALP and the risk of hypertension in relation to drinking status.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 2,681 participants (837 men and 1,846 women) aged 30 to 89 years undergoing a general health check-up to investigate the associations between ALP and hypertension in relation to drinking status.Results: Of the 2,681 participants, 1,549 (514 men and 1,035 women) were diagnosed with hypertension. A sex difference was observed for the relationship between ALP and hypertension. While no significant association was observed for men, the association was significantly positive for women. The multivariable adjusted odds ratio and 95% coincidence interval (CI) of hypertension per increment of 1-log ALP were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.56 to 1.59) for men and 1.57 (95% CI: 1.07 to 2.33) for women. When this analysis was restricted to nondrinkers, a significantly elevated risk of hypertension was observed for men and remained significant for women; that is, 3.32 (95% CI: 1.38 to 8.02) for men and 1.68 (95% CI: 1.11 to 2.55) for women.Conclusion: ALP is associated with hypertension for both male and female nondrinkers, but not for drinkers. For analyses of associations between ALP and blood pressure, alcohol consumption should thus be considered a potential confounder

Adhesion of hemocytes to desialylated prothoracic glands of Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera) in the larval stage

Earlier work showed the existence of sialic acid (SA) in the prothoracic glands (PGs) of Galleria mellonella (Karacali et al., 1997). In this paper we investigated the role of SA during the degeneration process of PGs. Neuraminidase-digested larval PGs were incubated within the hemolymph collected from same age larvae. Light and electron microscopic observations showed incomplete capsule formation by the accumulation of hemocytes around desialylated gland cells, but not in the control group. Desialylated larval PG cells were recognized as a foreign structure or non-self by hemocytes. The result indicates that SA acts as a mask for hemocytic receptors during the larval period under normal conditions. However, in the absence of SA, the glands start to degenerate. We provide an explanation for the role of SA in the recognition process of hemocytes that initiates the degeneration of PGs in pupal cells and show the functionality of SA in insects, confirming that SA is a universal molecule

Y CHROMOSOMAL STR LOCUS DYS385 IN AZOOSPERMIC AND FERTILE MEN FROM THE AEGEAN REGION OF TURKEY: IS THERE ANY FORENSIC RELEVANCE?

The DYS385 locus, consisting of two linked short tandem repeat (STR) subloci, is the polymorphic marker on the Y chromosome. The distribution of DYS385 genotypes was studied in 51 fertile and 49 azoospermic male individuals from the Aegean Region of Turkey. Genotype 14-17 was the most frequently observed genotype, and the gene diversity value of the Aegean population (n = 100) was 0.946 in this study. Results of the analyses show that there is a statistically significant difference between azoospermic and fertile males in terms of the DYS385 polymorphism. In addition, the results demonstrate that the DYS385 locus is very useful for human identification in forensic cases and paternity tests in the Aegean Region of Turkey

FORENSIC VALUE OF TEN SHORT TANDEM REPEAT LOCI IN TURKEY COMPARED TO OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS

Allele frequencies of the 10 short tandem repeats (STRs) loci (D16S539, D2S1338, D3S1358, vWA, D18S51, D21S11, D8S1179, D19S433, FGA, THO1) included in the AmpFlSTR SGM Plus kit, were obtained from biological samples from 100 unrelated individual residing in different part of Turkey. The chi 2 test showed that all these loci agreed with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, The results were compared with the previously published data from Turkish and other ethnic groups. Suggest that these loci with their high heterozygosity and combined power of discrimination (PD) values are useful for forensic identifications