LEPR c.668A>G polymorphism in a cohort of Sri Lankan women with pre-eclampsia / pregnancy induced hypertension: a case control study

BACKGROUND: Leptin is known to be elevated in pre-eclampsia/ pregnancy induced hypertension (PE/PIH). However the reports on the association of leptin receptor (LEPR) c.668A>G polymorphism with PE/PIH are inconsistent. FINDINGS: LEPR c.668A>G polymorphism was studied in a cohort of women with PE/PIH (N = 61) and normotensive pregnancies (N = 40) by polymerase chain reaction / restriction fragment length polymorphism. Genotype and allele frequencies were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium within both groups (Chi square test). Allele and genotype frequencies were not significantly different between PE/PIH and normotensive pregnancies (Chi square test). Leptin levels (Kruskal Wallis analysis of variance) and leptin/body mass index (one way analysis of variance) were not significantly different between genotypes within each group. However, leptin (Mann Whitney U test) and leptin normalised to body mass index (unpaired t test) were significantly higher in PE/PIH women homozygous and heterozygous for the G668 allele than in respective normotensives. CONCLUSIONS: Whether the leptin receptor c.668A>G polymorphism increases the risk of developing PE/PIH in Sri Lankan women remains inconclusive in view of the smaller sample studied. However leptin levels in PE/PIH appeared to be modulated by this polymorphism

The metabolism of streptozotocin

Imperial Users onl

The Genome of Setaria digitata: A Cattle Nematode Closely Related to Human Filarial Parasites

Here we present the draft genome sequence of Setaria digitata, a parasitic nematode affecting cattle. Due to its similarity to Wuchereria bancrofti, the parasitic nematode that causes lymphatic filariasis in humans, S. digitata has been used as a model organism at the genomic level to find drug targets which can be used for the development of novel drugs and/or vaccines for human filariasis. Setaria digitata causes cerebrospinal nematodiasis in goats, sheep, and horses posing a serious threat to livestock in developing countries. The genome sequence of S. digitata will assist in finding candidate genes to use as drug targets in both S. digitata and W. bancrofti. The assembled draft genome is similar to 90 Mb long and contains 8,974 genomicscaffolds with a G+C content of 31.73%