Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene polymorphisms associated with susceptibility to high altitude pulmonary edema in Chinese railway construction workers at Qinghai-Tibet over 4 500 meters above sea level.

Objective: To examine whether the polymorphisms of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene are associated with the susceptibility to high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) in Chinese railway construction workers at Qinghai-Tibet where the altitude is over 4 500 m above sea level.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted including 149 HAPE patients in the construction workers and 160 healthy controls randomly recruited from their co-workers, matching the patients in ethnicity, age, sex, lifestyle, and working conditions. Three polymorphisms of eNOS gene, T-786C in promoter, 894G/T in exon 7, and 27bp variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) in intron 4, were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and confirmed with DNA sequencing.

Association of the renin gene polymorphism, three angiotensinogen gene polymorphisms and the haplotypes with essential hypertension in the Mongolian population.

Renin is a rate-limiting enzyme of the renin-angiotensin system and plays a crucial role in the regulation of blood pressure (BP). Angiotensinogen (AGT) is the precursor of potent vasoactive hormone angiotensin II and the AGT gene has been incriminated as a marker for genetic predisposition to essential hypertension (EH) in some ethnic groups. The purpose of the study is to explore the association of a new genetic marker of renin gene, and AGT gene M235T, A-6G, and A-20C polymorphisms and their haplotypes with EH in the Mongolian population.

Multiple risk factor clustering and risk of hypertension in the Mongolian ethnic population of China.

Objective: To evaluate whether the clustering of risk factors, both environmental and genetic, increases the risk of essential hypertension (EH) and the accumulation of risk factors influences the blood pressure level in normotensives.

Methods: On the basis of a prevalence survey, 501 subjects of Mongolian ethnicity (243 hypertensives and 258 normotensives) who were not related to each other were selected to conduct a case-control study. All subjects were interviewed with questionnaires and their blood specimens were collected.

Correlation between haplotype of apolipoprotein B gene and natural longevity persons in Uygur nationality.

This paper investigated the correlation between polymorphisms and haplotypes in the apolipoprotein B (apoB) gene (SP-I/D, Xbal-RFLP, VNTR) and natural longevity persons among the Uygur people in Xinjiang. For this purpose, 191 healthy Uygur individuals aged above 90 from Hetian area of Xinjiang were recruited, and another 53 persons aged 65-70 from the same nationality, the same region and with the same gender ratio, served as the control group. Genotyping was performed by PCR-SSP, PCR-RFLP and PCR-sequencing methods.

[Polymorphism of apolipoprotein E gene and natural longevity in the Xinjiang Uighur people: an association study].

Objective: To explore the distribution of polymorphisms of apolipoprotein E(apoE) gene and its relation to natural longevity in the Xinjiang Uighur people.

Methods: Using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP), the authors obtained data from centenarians(n=42), 90-year-old people (n=102), 65-70-year-old people (n=70) and controls(n=53).

Results: The frequencies of apoE genotypes epsilon 3/4, epsilon 3/3 and epsilon 2/3 were 2.

[Polymorphism of angiotensin converting enzyme gene and natural longevity in the Xinjiang Uygur people: an association study].

Objective: To explore the distribution of I/D polymorphisms of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene and its relation to natural longevity in the Xinjiang Uygur people.

Methods: Polymerize chain reaction, single strand conformation polymorphism, and direct sequencing technique were used to test the I/D polymorphisms of ACE gene in 42 centenarians, 102 people aged 90-99, 70 people aged 65-70, 53 cases of natural death aged 65-70 were used as controls.

Results: The frequencies of ACE genotypes DD, DI, and II were 28.

Interaction and relationship between angiotensin converting enzyme gene and environmental factors predisposing to essential hypertension in Mongolian population of China.

Objective: To investigate the association of specific functional gene ACE (I/D) variants of the renin-angiotensin system with essential hypertension (EH) and interaction between ACE (I/D) gene and risk factors for EH in a genetically homogenous Mongolia rural population of China.

Methods: Individuals (n=1099) were recruited from general population of Kezuohouqi Banner in Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region.

Results: The association was found between ACE genotype DD plus ID and EH, with an interaction between ACE genotype DD plus ID and cigarette smoking in an additive model.