Association of high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) with established cardiovascular risk factors in the Indian population

Introduction Inflammation, the key regulator of C-reactive protein (CRP) synthesis, plays a pivotal role in atherothrombotic cardiovascular disease. Methods High sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) analysis was carried out in randomly selected 600 individuals from the sentinel surveillance study in Indian industrial population (SSIP). The hsCRP was measured quantitatively by turbid metric test using kits from SPINREACT, Spain. We analyzed the association between hsCRP and traditional CVD risk factors in this sub-sample. Results Complete risk factor data and CRP levels were available from 581/600 individuals. One half (51.2%) of the study subjects were males. Mean age of the study group was 39.2 ± 11.2 years. The Pearson correlation coefficients were in the range of 0.12 for SBP (p = 0.004) to 0.55 for BMI (p < 0.001). The linear regression coefficients ranged from 0.01 for SBP, PG and TC (p < 0.001) to 0.55 for logeTAG (p < 0.001) after adjustment for age, sex and education. The mean of logehsCRP significantly increased (P < 0.001) from individuals with ≤1 risk factors (-0.50) to individuals with three or more risk factors (0.60). In the multivariate model, the odds ratios for elevated CRP (CRP ≥ 2.6 mg/dl) were significantly elevated only in females in comparison to males (1.63, 95% CI; 1.02-2.58), overweight individuals in comparison to normal weight individuals (3.90, 95% CI; 2.34-6.44, p < 0.001), and abdominal obese individuals (1.62, 95% CI; 1.02-2.60, p = 0.04) in comparison to non-obese individuals. Conclusion Clinical measurements of adiposity (body mass index and abdominal obesity) correlate well and can be surrogate for systemic inflammatory state of individuals

Analyzing sociodemographic factors amongst blood donors

Introduction: Blood transfusion is a fundamental and requisite part of any National Health Service for optimum management of emergency conditions like severe trauma shock and resuscitation with the optimum stock of its different components. The objective of the present study was to analyze the factors of knowledge of prospective blood donors that may influence their perception and awareness about blood donation. Materials and Methods: This population-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Gangtok in the state of Sikkim, India, on 300 subjects of the adult population selected by two-stage cluster sampling. The main outcome variables were the socioeconomic and demographic variables of knowledge of blood donation. By interview technique, using the pre-tested structured close-ended questionnaire, the principal investigator collected the data. Results: In our study population, 46% of the study population was found to have a high knowledge score. The knowledge about blood donation was found to be statistically significant with the occupational status and the education levels, both in the bivariate and in the multivariate analyses. Knowledge about blood donation was not significantly related to age, sex, marital status, religion, community status and per capita monthly family income. Conclusion: The study suggested that the perceptions toward voluntary blood donation could be influenced to a large extent by sociodemographic variables of knowledge among the general population

Proteomic profiling of high glucose primed monocytes identifies cyclophilin A as a potential secretory marker of inflammation in type 2 diabetes

Hyperglycemia is widely recognized to be a potent stimulator of monocyte activity, which is a crucial event in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. We analyzed the monocyte proteome for potential markers that would enhance the ability to screen for early inflammatory status in Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), using proteomic technologies. Monocytic cells (THP-1) were primed with high glucose (HG), their protein profiles were analyzed using 2DE and the downregulated differentially expressed spots were identified using MALDI TOF/MS. We selected five proteins that were secretory in function with the help of bioinformatic programs. A predominantly downregulated protein identified as cyclophilin A (sequence coverage 98%) was further validated by immunoblotting experiments. The cellular mRNA levels of cyclophilin A in various HG-primed cells were studied using qRT-PCR assays and it was observed to decrease in a dose-dependent manner. LC-ESI-MS was used to identify this protein in the conditioned media of HG-primed cells and confirmed by Western blotting as well as ELISA. Cyclophilin A was also detected in the plasma of patients with diabetes. We conclude that cyclophilin A is secreted by monocytes in response to HG. Given the paracrine and autocrine actions of cyclophilin A, the secreted immunophilin could be significant for progression of atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes. Our study also provides evidence that analysis of monocyte secretome is a viable strategy for identifying candidate plasma markers in diabetes