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Biomedical subjects

B N Thi

Publications and source records attributed to B N Thi.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Insulinaemia and slight overweight: the case of Vietnamese hypertensives.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between hypertension, overweight and indices of insulin resistance in Vietnamese subjects. PATIENTS: One hundred and eight hypertensive subjects (51 men and 57 women) over 40 y of age were compared with 36 control subjects over 40 y of age. METHODS: Blood glucose and plasma insulin were measured at fasting and 2 h after 75 g glucose taken orally. RESULTS: Hypertensive subjects had significantly higher body mass index (BMI), triceps skinfold, waist and hip circumferences and waist/hip ratio. Glycaemia at fasting and after glucose were similar in the two groups. Insulinaemia at fasting and after glucose were significantly higher in the hypertensive subjects. In the whole series of hypertensive subjects, plasma insulin and insulin/glucose ratio at fasting and after glucose correlated significantly with BMI, triceps skinfold and waist and hip cicumferences. After exclusion of the subjects with BMI > 22 kg/m2, compared with the controls, plasma insulin and insulin/glucose ratio were significantly higher in the whole hypertensive group and separately in hypertensive men and women. The logistic regression analyses have shown that plasma insulin and insulin/glucose ratio at fasting and after glucose were significantly associated with hypertension, independently of gender, BMI and waist circumference. CONCLUSION: This study shows that in Vietnamese people, essential hypertension is associated with a significant increase in BMI, which however remains far lower than the definition threshold of occidental obesity and with a state of insulin resistance found despite very slight or no excess weight.

Aged↗

Cardiac autonomic function in obese patients.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to determine the presence and prevalence of alterations in cardiac autonomic function in obese, non-diabetic subjects. SUBJECTS: These were 121 obese people, 15 with glucose intolerance and none with diabetes, and a group of 40 healthy people. MEASUREMENTS: A series of five standardized tests was carried out, three of which were based mainly on parasympathetic control (heart rate response to Valsalva, deep breathing and lying-to-standing) and two on cardiovascular sympathetic function (blood pressure response to standing and to handgrip). RESULTS: The response to the deep breathing test correlated negatively with age, as it did in control subjects. At least one parasympathetic test, age-adjusted, was abnormal in 49 patients (40.5%). Five other patients had an abnormal handgrip test, and no patient had orthostatic hypotension. No correlation was found between the parasympathetic test results and sex or body mass index. Prevalence of cardiac autonomic dysfunction, considered to be present when at least one parasympathetic test was abnormal, did not differ according to a gynoid or android type of obesity. A significant negative correlation was found between heart rate response to deep breathing and fasting glycemia. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that cardiac autonomic dysfunction evidenced by means of simple, reliable, reproducible tests is frequent in the non-diabetic obese subject. This disorder could explain the poor cardiovascular prognosis associated with obesity. Whether it is a complication of obesity or a marker associated with certain kinds of obesity (of hypothalamic origin) remains to be clarified.

Adolescent↗

Localization of actin and characterization of its isoforms in the hyphae of Neurospora crassa.

The actin of Neurospora crassa wild type Strain St. Lawrence has been purified, characterized and localized. A fungal 43 kDa protein was isolated by affinity chromatography on DNase I-Sepharose. This protein was identified as actin on immunoblots when an anti-actin monoclonal antibody raised against chicken gizzards was used as a probe. After two-dimensional gel electrophoresis three actin isoforms were detected. The distribution of actin in hyphae was examined by FITC-phalloidin staining of formaldehyde fixed hyphae. F-actin was found to be mainly concentrated in the hyphal tips in which it formed a uniform cap. Apical actin could be involved in hyphal morphogenesis, organelle motility and maintenance of polarity.

Actins↗