.630, p < .001. Aortic pulse wave velocity in the Guangzhou group was consistently lower than that in the Beijing group when compared in subjects with the same arterial pressure at the same age, indicating a difference in aortic distensibility between the two groups, independent of arterial pressure. Results in two ethnically similar population groups with low serum cholesterol and low prevalence of atherosclerosis but markedly different prevalence of hypertension suggest that salt intake has an independent effect on arteriolar tone and arterial wall properties, with the former indirectly and the latter directly contributing to increased arterial stiffness with age.

ABSTRACT. There is structural damage to myelin and secondary immune injury in the development of delayed encephalopathy after acute carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning (DEACMP). In order to assess the role of genetic factors in this mechanism, we studied the association between tumor necrosis factor-α308 (TNF-α308) and myelin basic protein (MBP) 5ꞌ-side tetranucleotide repetitive sequence (TGGA) n gene polymorphism and DEACMP. We selected 109 DEACMP patients from the Han population in the Northern Henan Province as the case group, and 115 patients without delayed encephalopathy (called the acute CO poisoning group or the control group). There were no significant differences in TNF-α308 and MBP 5ꞌ-side TGGA n genotype distribution and allele frequency between the DEACMP group and the acute CO poisoning group (all P > 0.05). When the population was stratified by gender, only the MBP 5ꞌ-side TGGA n allele frequency was significantly different, and the frequency of allele L in the DEACMP group was significantly higher than that of the acute CO poisoning group in males (χ 2 = 4.089, P = 0.043, odds ratio = 2.103, 95% confidence interval = 1.014-4.363). The results showed that there was association between MBP 5ꞌ-side TGGA n gene polymorphism and DEACMP, and that allele L could increase the risk of occurrence in male patients with DEACMP. DEACMP may be the result of interaction of environmental and genetic factors.