Serum Uric Acid Levels and Its Association with Cardiovascular Risk Factors

"nBackground: Although the issue of hyperuricemia as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) has been disputed, sev­eral studies have shown an association between hyperuricemia and   several CVD risk factors. The aim of this study was to assess distribution of uric acid level in Yazd City, center of Iran, and its association with CVD risk factors."nMethods: From autumn 2004 to summer 2005, 2000 urban population of Yazd City, aging 20-74 years via clustering ran­dom sampling were enrolled in this cross sectional study."nResults: Serum uric acid level, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and waist/hip ratio were signifi­cantly higher in men than in women  (P< 0.001),moreover,  total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and body mass index (BMI) were significantly higher in women (P< 0.001). The prevalence of hyperuricemia and metabolic syndrome in men and women was (17.9%, 11.25% P= 0.001) and (11.87%, 19.32% P= 0.01), respectively. Hyperuricemia was more preva­lent in metabolic syndrome and ischemic heart disease independent of age and sex."nConclusion: Significant correlations were found between serum uric acid and several components of the metabolic syn­drome. Weight, waist circumstance, triglyceride level and DBP, were the major determinants of the variations in serum uric acid levels .This could be attributed to the insulin resistance status

Hypertension in Iranian Urban Population, Epidemiology, Awareness, Treatment and Control

Background: To assess the epidemiological characteristics of hypertensive patients in urban population of Yazd, A cen­tral city in Iran.Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted from 2005-2006 and carried out on population aging 20-74 years. It is a part of the phase I of Yazd healthy heart program that it is a community interventional study for prevention of car­diovascular disease. Data obtained from questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS version 13. P value less than 0.05 were consid­ered significant level.Results: This study comprised of 2000 participants that 847 (42.5%) were diagnosed as being hypertensive. After age ad­justment, prevalence of hypertension was 25.6% (23.3% for women and 27.5% for men (P< 0.001). Age, Total cho­lesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, fasting blood glucose, impaired glucose tolerance test, body mass index and waist were significantly higher in the hypertensive groups. 53.7% of hypertensive cases were aware of own condition, 45% were treated, and 33.9% of treated were controlled (30.7% and 35.4% in men and women re­spectively). In other word, 24% of all hypertensives (aware or unaware about own blood pressure condition) were treated and only 8% of them were controlled. Men significantly had less awareness (P< 0.001), lower tendency to take medi­cation (P< 0.001), and less were controlled (P= 0.046).Conclusion: We understand high prevalence, low awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension and higher preva­lence of other traditional metabolic risk factors in these cases. It seems that urgent preventional studies should be con­ducted in this population

Digenic inheritance of mutations in the cardiac troponin (TNNT2) and cardiac beta myosin heavy chain (MYH7) as the cause of severe dilated cardiomyopathy

Familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is characterized by ventricular dilation and depressed myocardial performance. It is a genetically heterogeneous disorder associated with mutations in over 60 genes. We carried out whole exome sequencing in combination with cardiomyopathy-related gene-filtering on two affected family members to identify the possible causative mutation in a consanguineous Iranian family with DCM. Two novel variants in cardiomyopathy-related genes were identified: c.247 A > C; p.N83H in the Troponin T Type 2 gene (TNNT2) and c.2863G > A; p.D955N in the Myosin Heavy Polypeptide 7 gene (MYH7). Sanger sequencing and co-segregation analysis in the remaining family members supported the coexistence of these digenic mutations in affected members of the family. Carriers of either variant alone were asymptomatic. In summary, we find that digenic inheritance of two novel variants in DCM related genes is associated with a severe form of DCM. Exome sequencing has been shown to be very useful in identifying pathogenic mutations in cardiomyopathy families, and this report emphasizes the importance of comprehensive screening of DCM related genes, even after the identification of a single disease-causing mutation

Effects of sesame, canola and sesame‐canola oils on body weight and composition in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized, triple‐blind, cross‐over clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Recent investigations have proposed that sesame and canola oils might affect body fat distribution. The present study aimed to examine the effects of sesame, canola and sesame-canola (a blend of sesame and canola oils) oils on body weight and composition in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the context of a randomized, triple-blind, three-way, cross-over clinical trial. RESULTS: Eligible participants were randomized to replace their regular dietary oil with sesame oil (SO), canola oil (CO) and sesame-canola oil (SCO) (with 40% SO and 60% CO). Treatment periods lasted 9 weeks and were separated by 4-week wash-out periods. Body weight and composition were measured at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of each intervention phase. In total, 93 participants completed the study. After adjustment for confounders, within-period changes were observed following SO and CO intake for body weight (0.34 ± 0.16 kg and 0.33 ± 0.17 kg) and visceral fat (0.13 ± 0.06% and 0.13 ± 0.05%, P < 0.05), respectively. Body mass index was increased within SO intake (0.13 ± 0.05 kg m−2, P = 0.031). All of the treatment oils resulted in reduced waist circumference and index of central obesity (P < 0.05). A significant difference in change values was observed for visceral fat between SCO (−0.14 ± 0.07%) and SO (0.12 ± 0.08%) treatment periods in females (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Sesame and canola oils might lead to a modest favorable body fat redistribution by reducing central adiposity, particularly in females; however, the changes were of little clinical importance