serum uric acid to creatinine ratio might be a better predictor of incident chronic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.

Objective: Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) plays an important role in inflammation and matrix degradation involved in atherosclerosis and plaque rupture. The T allele of rs3918242 has been reported to lead to a high promoter activity and associate with the extent of coronary artery disease (CAD). And some studies have reported that the G allele of rs17576 might be associated with CAD. The aim of this study was to assess the association between the polymorphisms of the MMP-9 gene and CAD in the Chinese Han population. Methods: This case-control study comprised 258 CAD cases and 153 controls from the Chinese Han Population. The genomic DNA of MMP-9 was isolated from whole blood. Polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism was used to determine the rs3918242 and rs17576 genotypes in the MMP-9 gene and the total serum levels of MMP-9 were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in both case and control groups. Results: Analysis of MMP-9 gene polymorphisms showed that the frequencies of the T allele and CT + TT genotypes of rs3918242 were significantly higher in the case group than in the control group ( p < 0.05). However, the distribution of variant genotypes of rs17576 did not differ between the case and control groups ( p > 0.05). The total serum level of MMP-9 was significantly higher in the case group than in the control group ( p < 0.05). The subjects carrying T alleles in the CAD group had higher average serum MMP-9 levels compared with CC genotypes ( p < 0.05). Conclusions: Our results suggest that the single-nucleotide polymorphism of rs3918242 in the MMP-9 gene is associated with CAD and high serum levels of MMP-9 are also associated with CAD in the Chinese Han population. Therefore, genetic variation of rs3918242 may participate in the development of CAD through influencing MMP-9 expression.

This study aimed to evaluate the glycemic levels in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and to explore the factors related to the results of glycemic control. A total of 2454 T2DM patients from 11 communities were examined for glycosylated hemoglobin levels and glycemic control options. Potential factors related to the results of glycemic control were analyzed using logistic regression. Of all the patients, 55.3 % achieved the glycemic control target of HbA1c < 7 %. Multivariate analysis showed that male sex (OR 1.345, 95 % CI 1.022-1.769; P = 0.034), higher levels of fasting blood glucose (OR 1.954, 95 % CI 1.778-2.147; P < 0.001), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR 1.181, 95 % CI 1.020-1.367; P = 0.026) were significantly associated with poor glycemic control. The complexity of antidiabetics was also associated with poor glycemic control (P < 0.05). Compared to diet and exercise, insulin injection was most strongly associated with poor glycemic control (OR 6.210, 95 % CI 4.054-9.514; P < 0.001). Male patients with higher levels of total cholesterol, lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or longer diabetic durations showed poor glycemic control, which was not found in female patients. Glycemic control was not satisfactory in T2DM patients of Nanjing communities. Various factors are associated with poor results of glycemic control.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Cilnidipine tablets to treat Chinese patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension, and to examine the ability of Cilnidipine to lower blood pressure without eliciting unfavorable side effects. Medical databases and review articles were screened for randomized controlled trials that reported the effects of and adverse reactions to Cilnidipine and Amlodipine in treating Chinese patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension. The quality of the included studies was critically evaluated. A total of 547 articles were found, from which 11 articles met the inclusion criteria. The heterogeneity test, the efficacy analysis (Q statistic = 4.62, p = 0.91, I(2) = 0%) and safety analysis (Q statistic = 3.73, p = 0.93, I(2) = 0%) showed that Cilnidipine was equally effective and safe compared to Amlodipine. The funnel-plot displayed a symmetrical figure, indicating there was no publication bias, and all articles included described high quality trials. In conclusion, Cilnidipine is a useful agent to treat mild to moderate essential hypertension in China.

BackgroundThere remains controversy regarding which of the anthropometric indicators best defines obesity. In this study, we compared the efficacy of using body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) in the diagnosis of obesity and assessed their associations with diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia in an urban working population in China.MethodsAnthropometric measurements, blood pressure, plasma lipids, fasting and 2-hour plasma glucose (PG) levels by a 75 gram oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) were obtained from 2603 working Chinese who had no history of cardiovascular diseases or diabetes. Cardio-metabolic risk factors including high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, and glucose intolerance were evaluated. The diagnoses of overweight and obesity were based on the WHO definitions with BMI for general obesity and WC and WHR for central obesity.ResultsBased on BMI, WC and WHR, there were 31.3%, 16.6%, 35.2% of the studied subjects, respectively, being overweight and 2.0%, 5.6%, 9.2% being obese. Among women but not men, more overweight and obese subjects were diagnosed using WHR and WC. The number of cardio-metabolic risks was higher by WC criterion than BMI and WHR in the whole group (p <0.05) and female subjects (p <0.01). Comparing the three anthropometric indexes predicting hypertension, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia and multiple cardio-metabolic risks, for women, it was WC having the largest areas under ROC curves (0.759, 0.746, 0.701 and 0.773 respectively); while in men, it was WC for hypertension, WHR for hyperglycemia, BMI for dyslipidemia and WC for multiple cardio-metabolic risks (areas under ROC curves were 0.658, 0.686, 0.618 and 0.695 respectively).ConclusionsAmong Chinese working population, the need of lower cutoff values to define overweight and obesity were observed. Central obesity indicator (WC) is the preferred measure to predict the presence of cardio-metabolic risk in Chinese female subjects.