BackgroundQuestions remain as to the association between essential hypertension and increased incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The premise of this analysis is that insulin resistance/compensatory hyperinsulinemia is a major predictor of T2DM, and the greater the prevalence of insulin resistance within any population, normotensive or hypertensive, the more likely T2DM will develop. The hypothesis to be tested is that surrogate estimates of insulin resistance will predict incident T2DM to a significant degree in persons with normal blood pressure or prehypertension.MethodsAnalysis of data from a population-based survey of 10, 038 inhabitants of rural and urban areas of Korea, ≥40 years-old, initiated in 2001, with measures of demographic and metabolic characteristics at baseline and 8-years later. Participants were classified as having normal blood pressure or prehypertension, and three simple manifestations of insulin resistance related to the pathophysiology of T2DM used to predict incident T2DM: (1) glycemia (plasma glucose concentration 2-hour after 75 g oral glucose challenge = 2-hour PG); (2) hyperinsulinemia (plasma insulin concentration 2-hour after 75 g oral glucose challenge = 2-hour PI); and (3) dyslipidemia (ratio of fasting plasma triglyceride/high/density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration = TG/HDL-C ratio).ResultsFully adjusted hazard ratios (HR, 95 % CI) for incident T2DM were highest (P < 0.001) in the quartile of individuals with the highest 2-hour PG concentrations, ranging from 5.84 (3.37–10.1) in women with prehypertension to 12.2 (7.12–21.00) in men with normal blood pressure. T2DM also developed to a significantly greater degree in subjects within the highest quartile of TG/HDL-C ratios, with HRs varying from 2.91 (1.63–2.58) in women with prehypertension (P < 0.001) to 1.77 (1.12–2.81, P < 0.05) in men with prehypertension. The least predictive index of insulin resistance was the 2-hour PI concentration. Subjects with normal blood pressure in the highest quartile of 2-hour PI concentrations were significantly associated with incident T2DM, with HRs of 1.5 (1.02–2.20, P = 0.25) and 2.02 (1.35–3.02, P < 0.001), in men and women, respectively. Finally, incidence of T2DM in the highest quartile was somewhat greater in patients with prehypertension, irrespective of predictor.ConclusionsMetabolic variables associated with insulin resistance (glycemia, insulinemia, and dyslipidemia) predict the development of T2DM in patients with either normal blood pressure or prehypertension.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12933-016-0368-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Aims: Merozoite surface protein 8 (MSP-8) of Plasmodium parasites plays an important role in erythrocyte invasion and is a potential malaria vaccine candidate. Methods and Results: In this study, virus-like particles (VLPs) expressing MSP-8 of Plasmodium berghei on the surface of influenza virus matrix protein 1 (M1) core protein were generated for vaccine efficacy assessment. Mice were intramuscularly (IM) immunized with MSP-8 VLPs twice and challenge-infected with P. berghei. We found that VLP vaccination elicited higher levels of P. berghei-specific IgG antibody response in the sera, along with blood CD4 + and CD8 + T-cell response enhancement compared to the naïve control mice. CD4 + and CD8 + effector memory T-cell and memory B-cell responses in the spleen were found to be higher in VLP-immunized mice compared to control mice. VLP vaccination significantly reduced inflammatory cytokine (IFN-γ) response in the spleen and parasitemia levels in blood compared to naïve control mice. Conclusions: These results indicate that MSP-8 containing virus-like particles could be a vaccine candidate for blood-stage vaccine design.

Linoleate 9R-lipoxygenase (9R-LOX) from Nostoc sp. SAG 25.82 was identified as arachidonate (ARA) 11R-LOX by the determination of the product obtained from the conversion of ARA. The specific activity and catalytic efficiency (k cat /K m ) of the enzyme for C20 and C22 polyunsaturated fatty acids followed the order ARA > eicosapentaenoic acid > docosahexaenoic acid. The production of the lipid mediator 11R-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (11R-HETE) was performed using Escherichia coli cells expressing ARA 11R-LOX from Nostoc sp. The reaction conditions, such as pH, temperature, solvent and its concentration, and substrate and cell concentrations, were optimized using the recombinant cells, and the optimal conditions for the production of 11R-HETE from ARA were pH 7.0, 25 C, 10 g L À1 cells, 5.0 mM ARA, 4% (v/v) ethanol, and 10 mM cysteine as a reducing agent. Under these optimized conditions, E. coli cells expressing 11R-LOX converted 5.0 mM ARA into 4.74 mM 11R-HETE in 60 min, with a molar conversion yield of 95% a volumetric productivity of 79 μM min À1 and a specific productivity of 7.9 μM min À1 g À1 . To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the quantitative biotechnological production of 11R-HETE.

To examine the taxonomic position and affinities of Isopyrum mandshuricum (Ranunculaceae) and related taxa, genetic analysis were carried out on the basis of isozyme patterns and ITS sequences. Molecular data, both isozyme patterns and ITS sequences suggest that I. mandshuricum is closely related to Enemion raddeanum than to Semiaquilegia adoxoides. The estimation of genetic identities by isozyme analysis reveals that I. manshuricum is genetically distant from E. raddeanum. The phylogenetic tree based on molecular data is rather congruent with the phenogram based on quantitative morphological characteristics, but not consistent with one based on qualitative morphological characteristics. Incongruencies between molecular and qualitative morphological data provide clues to re-evaluate several morphological features. Isopyrum mandshuricum Kom. (= Semiaquilegia mandshurica Kom.) was described as a new species by Komarov in 1926 (Hill, 1933) and was placed in the tribe Helleboreae (Isopyreae) (Bentham and Hooker, 1873; Buchheim, 1964) or subfamily Isopyroideae {Satake et al., 1983) of Ranunculaceae. On the basis of morphological characteristics of the petal, petal spur, staminode, carpel and fruit, A mandshuricum has been variously treated as a member of Semiaquilegia or as Isopyrum within Isopyroideae. Four taxa, including /. mandshuricum, Semiaquilegia adoxoides (DC.) Makino, Aquilegia buergeriana var. oxysepala (Trautv. et Meyer) Kitamura, and Enemion raddeanum Regel, were examined to discuss the taxonomic dispositions of Korean Isopyroideae by Lee and Yeau (1998). In their study, cluster analysis based on quantitative morphological characters resulted in two groups, one containing A mandshuricum and Enemion raddeanum Regel, and a second containing Semiaquilegia adoxoides and Aquilegia buergeriana var. oxysepala. The phenetic analysis (Lee and Yeau, 1998) clustered /. mandshuricum and E. raddeanum together, even though they are different in petal characteristics, an important feature to delimit genera in the family. Isopyrum mandshuricum and E. raddeanum are distinct from each other in perianth, trichome type of leaves, and inflorescence: E. raddeanum has no petal, multicellular trichomes, and umbelliform cyme, while /. mandshuricum has a petal,

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