Renal Insufficiency in Non-Diabetic Subjects: Relationship of MTHFR C677t Gene Polymorphism and Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

Association of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677CT gene polymorphism with hyperhomocysteinemia, renal failure, and cardiovascular events is controversial. We investigated the relationship of MTHFR 677CT polymorphisms with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and renal insufficiency.Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and left myocardial ventricular mass/m2 were assessed in 138 non-diabetic subjects (age, 50.93 ± 14.85 years; body mass index, 27.95 ± 5.98 kg/m(2)), 38 no-mutation wild MTHFR C677CC, 52 heterozygous MTHFR C677CT, and 48 homozygous MTHFR C677TT, all with adequate adherence to current international healthy dietary guidelines. Serum homocysteine, insulin resistance, high-sensitivity C-reactive-protein (hsCRP), parathyroid hormone, and renal artery resistive index (RRI) were challenged by odds ratio analysis and multiple linear regression models.MTHFR 677CT polymorphism showed higher GFR (73.8 ± 27.99 vs. 58.64 ± 29.95; p= 0.001) and lower renal failure odds (OR, 0.443; 95% confidence interval, 0.141-1.387) in comparison with wild MTHFR genotype. A favorable effect on GFR of MTHFR polymorphism is presented independently by the negative effects of LVH, increased intra-renal arterial resistance, and hyperparathyroidism; GFR is the significant predictive factor to LVH.Renal insufficiency in non-diabetic subjects is explained by interactions of MTHFR C677T polymorphism mutation with LVH, hsCRP, intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), and RRI. Sign of these predictive effects is opposite: subjects with MTHFR 677CT polymorphism have lower likelihood of renal insufficiency; differently, wild-type MTHFR genotype subjects have lower GFR and greater hsCRP, iPTH, RRI, and LVH

Explaining Incompatibilities in Data Dictionary Design through Abduction

Logic programming with abductive reasoning is used during the realization of a data dictionary with a particular methodology. Some methodological steps are represented by means of a set of rules augmented with integrity constraints which capture the presence of incompatible concepts. Explanations for incompatibility can be inferred by exploiting abductive reasoning. To this end a new proposal for the computation of hypotheses in an abductive framework where the theory is a general logic program, is presented. It is based on a suitable manipulation of minimal threevalued models of the logic program. A method to compute three-valued minimal models of a general logic program is given

DATA DICTIONARY DESIGN - A LOGIC PROGRAMMING APPROACH

Some steps of the design of a data dictionary with the use of a particular methodology are represented by means of logic rules augumented with integrity constraints defining illegal data design. The presence of concepts incompatible among them is easily revealed by asking for satisfiability of integrity constraints. Furthermore, it is possible to obtain the hypotheses explaining the presence of illegality by exploiting abductive reasoning. To this end a new proposal for the computation of such hypotheses, based on an suitable manipulation of minimal three-valued models of the logic program, is presented

Natural Properties of Abductive Hypotheses in Three-Valued Logic

This paper shows some interesting properties of Kleene's threevalued logic in relation to abductive reasoning. A semantical characterization of abductive explanations is proposed, based on the notion of minimal three-valued model. This establishes a relation between the minimization problem in abductive reasoning and three-valued semantics, in the same sense as non-monotonic reasoning deals with minimization in two-valued semantics. 1 Introductio