BackgroundThe global burden of chronic liver disease is rising. Besides environmental, behavioral, viral and metabolic factors, genetic polymorphisms in patatin-like phospholipase-3 (PNPLA3) and vitamin D receptor (VDR) genes have been related to the development of chronic liver disease and progression towards liver cancer. Although their prevalence differs remarkably among ethnic groups, the frequency of these polymorphisms in South American populations -whose genetic background is highly admixed- has been poorly studied. Hence, the aim of this study was to characterize polymorphisms related to chronic liver disease and their association with the genetic ancestry of South American populations.ResultsDNA samples from 258 healthy unrelated male volunteers were analyzed. The frequencies of G and C alleles of rs738409 polymorphism (PNPLA3 gene) were 74 % and 26 %, respectively; whereas the bAt (CCA) haplotype (VDR gene) was observed in 32.5 % of the samples. The GG genotype of PNPLA3 rs738409 and the bAt (CCA) haplotype -associated with an increased risk of chronic liver disease and progression towards liver cancer- were significantly more frequent among samples exhibiting maternal and paternal Native American haplogroups (63.7 % and 64.6 %), intermediate among admixed samples (45.1 % and 44.9 %; p = 0.03) and the lowest for Non-native American ancestry (30.1 % and 29.6 %; p = 0.001 and p = 0.0008).ConclusionsThese results suggest that individuals with Native American ancestry might have a high risk of chronic liver disorders and cancer. Furthermore, these data not only support the molecular evaluation of ancestry in multi-ethnic population studies, but also suggest that the characterization of these variants in South American populations may be useful for establishing public health policies aimed at high risk ethnic communities.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12863-015-0255-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The prevalence of genetic polymorphisms identified as predictors of therapeutic-induced hepatitis C virus (HCV) clearance differs among ethnic groups. However, there is a paucity of information about their prevalence in South American populations, whose genetic background is highly admixed. Hence, single-nucleotide polymorphisms rs12979860, rs1127354 and rs7270101 were characterized in 1350 healthy individuals, and ethnicity was assessed in 259 randomly selected samples. The frequency of rs12979860CC, associated to HCV treatment response, and rs1127354nonCC, related to protection against hemolytic anemia, were significantly higher among individuals with maternal and paternal Non-native American haplogroups (64.5% and 24.2%), intermediate among admixed samples (44.1% and 20.4%) and the lowest for individuals with Native American ancestry (30.4% and 6.5%). This is the first systematic study focused on analyzing HCV predictors of antiviral response and ethnicity in South American populations. The characterization of these variants is critical to evaluate the risk-benefit of antiviral treatment according to the patient ancestry in admixed populations.

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The reaction between phthalylsulfathiazole (H(2)PST), in alkaline aqueous solution, and cobalt(II) nitrate led to a pink solid, [Co(PST)(H(2)O)(4)] (1), which was characterized by elemental and thermogravimetric analysis; FT-IR, Raman and diffuse reflectance spectra. Spectroscopic data reveal that the ligand would be doubly deprotonated and that the Co(II) ion environment is a distorted octahedral one. (1) showed antibacterial activity similar to the ligand.