850 resultados para lcc: African languages
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OBJECTIVE: Renal cytochrome P450 3A5 (CYP3A5) activity has been associated with blood pressure and salt sensitivity in humans. We determined whether CYP3A5 polymorphisms are associated with ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and with glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in African families. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional design, 375 individuals from 72 families, each with at least two hypertensive siblings, were recruited through a hypertension register in the Seychelles (Indian Ocean). We analyzed the association between the CYP3A5 alleles (*1, *3, *6 and *7) and ABP, GFR and renal sodium handling (fractional excretion of lithium), from pedigree data, allowing for other covariates and familial correlations. RESULTS: CYP3A5*1 carriers increased their daytime systolic and diastolic ABP with age (0.55 and 0.23 mmHg/year) more than non-carriers (0.21 and 0.04 mmHg/year). CYP3A5*1 had a significant main effect on daytime systolic/diastolic ABP [regression coefficient (SE): -29.6 (10.0)/-8.2 (4.1) mmHg, P = 0.003/0.045, respectively] and this effect was modified by age (CYP3A5*1 x age interactions, P = 0.017/0.018). For night-time ABP, the effect of CYP3A5*1 was modified by urinary sodium excretion, not by age. For renal function, CYP3A5*1 carriers had a 7.6(3.8) ml/min lower GFR (P = 0.045) than non-carriers. Proximal sodium reabsorption decreased with age in non-carriers, but not in CYP3A5*1 carriers (P for interaction = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that CYP3A5 polymorphisms are associated with ambulatory BP, CYP3A5*1 carriers showing a higher age- and sodium- related increase in ABP than non-carriers. The age effect may be due, in part, to the action of CYP3A5 on renal sodium handling.
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BACKGROUND: We estimated the heritability of three measures of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in hypertensive families of African descent in the Seychelles (Indian Ocean). METHODS: Families with at least two hypertensive siblings and an average of two normotensive siblings were identified through a national hypertension register. Using the ASSOC program in SAGE (Statistical Analysis in Genetic Epidemiology), the age- and gender-adjusted narrow sense heritability of GFR was estimated by maximum likelihood assuming multivariate normality after power transformation. ASSOC can calculate the additive polygenic component of the variance of a trait from pedigree data in the presence of other familial correlations. The effects of body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, natriuresis, along with sodium to potassium ratio in urine and diabetes, were also tested as covariates. RESULTS: Inulin clearance, 24-hour creatinine clearance, and GFR based on the Cockcroft-Gault formula were available for 348 persons from 66 pedigrees. The age- and gender-adjusted correlations (+/- SE) were 0.51 (+/- 0.04) between inulin clearance and creatinine clearance, 0.53 (+/- 0.04) between inulin clearance and Cockcroft-Gault formula and 0.66 (+/- 0.03) between creatinine clearance and Cockcroft-Gault formula. The age- and gender-adjusted heritabilities (+/- SE) of GFR were 0.41 (+/- 0.10) for inulin clearance, 0.52 (+/- 0.13) for creatinine clearance, and 0.82 (+/- 0.09) for Cockcroft-Gault formula. Adjustment for BMI slightly lowered the correlations and heritabilities for all measurements whereas adjustment for blood pressure had virtually no effect. CONCLUSION: The significant heritability estimates of GFR in our sample of families of African descent confirm the familial aggregation of this trait and justify further analyses aimed at discovering genetic determinants of GFR.
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This paper analyses the integration of Africa in the global labour market of football through the study of players' migrations to Asia and Europe. The presence of African footballers in the latter continent is analysed via a statistical survey carried out in September and October 2008 on a sample of 456 top division clubs in 30 European countries. The article emphasizes that the aspirations placed on football by male African youth, as a means of upward social mobility, are often too high when compared to the harsh realities of a transfer market based on commercial logics, which each year push many footballers away from the professional game.
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Résumé de la thèse en français Titre : Différence entre hommes et femmes dans la réponse à un inhibiteur de l'enzyme de conversion de l'angiotensine et un diurétique chez des patients hypertendus d'origine Africaine. Introduction: L'efficacité des inhibiteurs de l'enzyme de conversion de l'angiotensine (ACEI) dans le traitement de l'hypertension artérielle chez les patients africains est controversée. Objectif: Nous avons examiné la baisse de la tension artérielle ambulatoire (ABP) en réponse à un diurétique et un ACEI chez des patients hypertendus d'origine africaine et nous avons évalué les différentes caractéristiques déterminant l'efficacité du traitement. Méthodes: Etude en simple-aveugle randomisée, en crossover AB/BA. Arrangement Familles hypertendues d'origine africaine de la population générale des Seychelles. Participants : 52 patients (29 hommes et 23 femmes) sur 62 patients hypertendus éligibles ont été inclus. Le principal résultat était la mesure de la réponse de l'ABP à 20 mg de lisinopril (LIS) ou 25 mg d'hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) quotidiennement pendant quatre semaines. Résultats: Le jour, la réponse systolique/diastolique de l'ABP sous HCT était de 4.9 (95% intervalle de confiance (IC) 1.2-8.6)/3.6 (1.0-6.2) mm Hg pour les hommes et 12.9 (9.216.6)/6.3 (3.7-8.8) mm Hg pour les femmes. Sous LIS, la réponse était de 18.8 (15.022.5)/14.6 (12.0-17.1) mm Hg pour les hommes et de 12.4 (8.7-16.2)/7.7 (5.1-10.2) mm Hg pour les femmes. La nuit, la réponse systolique/diastolique sous HCT était de 5.0 (0.6-9.4)/2.7 ((-0.4)-5.7) mm Hg pour les hommes et de 11.5 (7.1-16.0)/5.7 (2.6-8.8) mm Hg pour les femmes, et sous LIS était de 18.7 (14.2-22.1)/15.4 (12.4-18.5) mm Hg pour les hommes et de 3.5 ((-1.0)-7.9)/2.3 ((-0.8)-5.4) mm Hg pour les femmes. L'analyse de régression linéaire multiple a montré que le sexe est un prédicteur indépendant de la réponse tensionnelle à l'HCT et au LIS. Conclusions : Les patients hypertendus d'origine africaine ont présenté une baisse tensionnelle plus grande en réponse au LIS qu'à l'HCT. Les hommes ont mieux répondu au LIS qu'à l'HCT alors que les femmes ont répondu de manière similaire aux deux traitements.
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Aquesta memòria vol introduir el lector dins del camp de l'XML, fent referència al mateix llenguatge XML i a l'anomenada família XML, formada per totes les tecnologies i els estàndards que estan relacionats amb l'XML i que en fan un llenguatge realment potent i versàtil.
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Aquest treball fa un recull d'informació de l'estàndard XML i dels llenguatges de consultes XQuery, que són llenguatges de consultes dissenyats per a fer accessos a aquest tipus de dades.
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The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding of the genetic relationships within the widespread and highly polymorphic group of African giant shrews (Crocidura olivieri group). We sequenced 769 base pairs (bp) of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and 472 bp of the mitochondrial control region over the entire geographic range from South Africa to Morocco. The analyses reveal four main clades associated with different biomes. The largest clade occurs over a range covering Northwest and Central Africa and includes samples of C. fulvastra, C. olivieri, and C. viaria. The second clade is composed of C. goliath from Gabon, while South African C. flavescens, and C. hirta form two additional clades. On the basis of these results, the validity of some taxa in the C. olivieri group should be re-evaluated.
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The skeletal remains of 17 people buried in the Eaton Ferry Cemetery in northern North Carolina provide a means of examining health and infectious disease experience in the XIX century South. The cemetery appears to contain the remains of African Americans enslaved on the Eaton family estate from approximately 1830-1850, and thus offers a window into the biological impacts of North American slavery in the years preceding the Civil War. The sample includes the remains of six infants, one child, and one young and nine mature adults (five men, four women, and one unknown). Skeletal indices used to characterize health and disease in the Eaton Ferry sample include dental caries, antemortem tooth loss, enamel hypoplasia, porotic hyperostosis, periosteal lesions, lytic lesions, and stature. These indicators reveal a cumulative picture of compromised health, including high rates of dental disease, childhood growth disruption, and infectious disease. Specific diseases identified in the sample include tuberculosis and congenital syphilis. Findings support previous research on the health impacts of slavery, which has shown that infants and children were the most negatively impacted segment of the enslaved African American population.
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This study describes major electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements and diagnoses in a population of African individuals; most reference data have been collected in Caucasian populations and evidence exists for interethnic differences in ECG findings. This study was conducted in the Seychelles islands (Indian Ocean) and included 709 black individuals (343 men and 366 women) aged 25 to 64 years randomly selected from the general population. Resting ECG were recorded by using a validated ECG unit equipped with a measurement and interpretation software (Cardiovit AT-6, Schiller, Switzerland). The epidemiology of 14 basic ECG measurements, 6 composite criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy and 19 specific ECG diagnoses including abnormal rhythms, conduction abnormalities, repolarization abnormalities, and myocardial infarction were examined. Substantial gender and age differences were found for several ECG parameters. Moreover, tracings recorded in African individuals of the Seychelles differed from those collected similarly in Caucasian populations in many respects. For instance, heart rate was approximately 5 beats per minute lower in the African individuals than in selected Caucasian populations, prevalence of first degree atrio-ventricular block was especially high (4.8%), and the average Sokolow-Lyon voltage was markedly higher in African individuals of the Seychelles compared with black and white Americans. The integrated interpretation software detected "old myocardial infarction" in 3.8% of men and 0% of women and "old myocardial infarction possible" in 6.1% and 3%, respectively. Cardiac infarction injury scores are also provided. In conclusion, the study provides reference values for ECG findings in a specific population of people of African descent and stresses the need to systematically consider gender, age, and ethnicity when interpreting ECG tracings in individuals.
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The aim of the present study was to develop a short form of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) with acceptable psychometric properties in four languages: English (United States), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), and Spanish (Spain). The total sample (N = 4,621) was randomly divided into calibration and validation samples. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted in the calibration sample. Eighty items, with loadings equal or higher than 0.30 on their own factor and lower on the remaining factors, were retained. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed over the survival items in the validation sample in order to select the best 10 items for each scale. This short version (named ZKPQ-50-CC) presents psychometric properties strongly similar to the original version in the four countries. Moreover, the factor structure are near equivalent across the four countries since the congruence indices were all higher than 0.90. It is concluded that the ZKPQ-50-CC presented a high cross-language replicability, and it could be an useful questionnaire that may be used for personality research.
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African Americans are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes (T2DM) yet few studies have examined T2DM using genome-wide association approaches in this ethnicity. The aim of this study was to identify genes associated with T2DM in the African American population. We performed a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) using the Affymetrix 6.0 array in 965 African-American cases with T2DM and end-stage renal disease (T2DM-ESRD) and 1029 population-based controls. The most significant SNPs (n = 550 independent loci) were genotyped in a replication cohort and 122 SNPs (n = 98 independent loci) were further tested through genotyping three additional validation cohorts followed by meta-analysis in all five cohorts totaling 3,132 cases and 3,317 controls. Twelve SNPs had evidence of association in the GWAS (P<0.0071), were directionally consistent in the Replication cohort and were associated with T2DM in subjects without nephropathy (P<0.05). Meta-analysis in all cases and controls revealed a single SNP reaching genome-wide significance (P<2.5×10(-8)). SNP rs7560163 (P = 7.0×10(-9), OR (95% CI) = 0.75 (0.67-0.84)) is located intergenically between RND3 and RBM43. Four additional loci (rs7542900, rs4659485, rs2722769 and rs7107217) were associated with T2DM (P<0.05) and reached more nominal levels of significance (P<2.5×10(-5)) in the overall analysis and may represent novel loci that contribute to T2DM. We have identified novel T2DM-susceptibility variants in the African-American population. Notably, T2DM risk was associated with the major allele and implies an interesting genetic architecture in this population. These results suggest that multiple loci underlie T2DM susceptibility in the African-American population and that these loci are distinct from those identified in other ethnic populations.
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BACKGROUND: Low socioeconomic status (SES) is consistently associated with higher mortality in high income countries. Only few studies have assessed this association in low and middle income countries, mainly because of sparse reliable mortality data. This study explores SES differences in overall and cause-specific mortality in the Seychelles, a rapidly developing small island state in the African region. METHODS: All deaths have been medically certified over more than two decades. SES and other lifestyle-related risk factors were assessed in a total of 3246 participants from three independent population-based surveys conducted in 1989, 1994 and 2004. Vital status was ascertained using linkage with vital statistics. Occupational position was the indicator of SES used in this study and was assessed with the same questions in the three surveys. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 15.0 years (range 0-23 years), 523 participants died (overall mortality rate 10.8 per 1000 person-years). The main causes of death were cardiovascular disease (CVD) (219 deaths) and cancer (142 deaths). Participants in the low SES group had a higher mortality risk for overall (HR = 1.80; 95% CI: 1.24-2.62), CVD (HR = 1.95; 1.04-3.65) and non-cancer/non-CVD (HR = 2.14; 1.10-4.16) mortality compared to participants in the high SES group. Cancer mortality also tended to be patterned by SES (HR = 1.44; 0.76-2.75). Major lifestyle-related risk factors (smoking, heavy drinking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia) explained a small proportion of the associations between low SES and all-cause, CVD, and non-cancer/non-CVD mortality. CONCLUSIONS: In this population-based study assessing social inequalities in mortality in a country of the African region, low SES (as measured by occupational position) was strongly associated with overall, CVD and non-cancer/non-CVD mortality. Our findings support the view that the burden of non-communicable diseases may disproportionally affect people with low SES in low and middle income countries.
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BACKGROUND: The efficacy of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in decreasing blood pressure in African patients is controversial. OBJECTIVE: We examined the ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) response to a diuretic and an ACE inhibitor in hypertensive patients of East African descent and evaluated the individual characteristics that determined treatment efficacy. DESIGN: A single-blind randomized AB/BA crossover design. SETTING: Hypertensive families of East African descent from the general population in the Seychelles. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-two (29 men and 23 women) out of 62 eligible hypertensive patients were included.Main outcome measures ABP response to 20 mg lisinopril (LIS) daily and 25 mg hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) daily given for a 4-week period.Results The daytime systolic/diastolic ABP response to HCT was 4.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2-8.6]/3.6 (1.0-6.2) mmHg for men and 12.9 (9.2-16.6)/6.3 (3.7-8.8) mmHg for women. With LIS the response was 18.8 (15.0-22.5)/14.6 (12.0-17.1) mmHg for men and 12.4 (8.7-16.2)/7.7 (5.1-10.2) mmHg for women. The night-time systolic/diastolic response to HCT was 5.0 (0.6-9.4)/2.7 [(-0.4)-5.7] mmHg for men and 11.5 (7.1-16.0)/5.7 (2.6-8.8) mmHg for women, and to LIS was 18.7 (14.2-22.1)/15.4 (12.4-18.5) mmHg for men and 3.5 [(-1.0)-7.9]/2.3 [(-0.8)-5.4] mmHg for women. Linear regression analyses showed that gender is an independent predictor of the ABP responses to HCT and to LIS. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertensive patients of African descent responded better to LIS than to HCT. Men responded better to LIS than to HCT and women responded similarly to both drugs.