Inflammatory Markers and Plasma Lipids in HIV Patients: A Correlation Analysis Study.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that HIV infection, even with treatment, increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and that both chronic inflammation and traditional risk factors play key roles in HIV-associated CHD.

Subjects And Methods: Patients (N=152), attending Harare HIV clinic, 26% of them male and 82% of them on antiretroviral therapy (ART), were studied. Inflammatory markers comprising of cytokines such as pro-inflammatory tumor necrosis factor-α, (TNF-α), anti-inflammatory interleukin 10, (IL-10) and highly sensitive C reactive protein (hsCRP) together with lipids were assayed using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immuno-turbidimetric and enzymatic assays, respectively.

Adult Hematology and Clinical Chemistry Laboratory Reference Ranges in a Zimbabwean Population.

Background: Laboratory reference ranges used for clinical care and clinical trials in various laboratories in Zimbabwe were derived from textbooks and research studies conducted more than ten years ago. Periodic verification of these ranges is essential to track changes over time. The purpose of this study was to establish hematology and chemistry laboratory reference ranges using more rigorous methods.

Hematological and biochemical laboratory reference intervals for Zimbabwean adolescents.

Background: Reference intervals are used as an aid in the interpretation of laboratory results. Most developing countries do not have reference intervals specific to adolescents. This study was aimed at establishing hematological and biochemical reference intervals for adolescents aged ≥ 12 years to < 18 years.

Serum ferritin concentrations in Africans with low dietary iron.

In the setting of high dietary, several studies have provided evidence for a strong effect of both high dietary iron and an unidentified genetic locus on iron stores in Africans. To investigate whether these effects are discernible in the setting of low dietary iron, serum ferritin concentrations were measured in 194 Zimbabwean men >30 years of age and 299 postmenopausal women who consumed a non-iron-fortified diet and who did not drink iron-rich traditional beer or other alcoholic beverages. Comparisons were made with non-alcohol drinking African-Americans studied in the third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES III) who consume an iron-fortified diet.

Reference intervals of serum transferrin receptors in pre-school children in Zimbabwe.

In laboratory medicine an observed value of a biological analyte may be compared with previously observed values from an appropriate reference population. A reference range for serum transferrin receptor concentration has not been established for Zimbabwean children. We prospectively studied 208 children aged 3-60 months who were residents of Harare, a non-malaria and non-hookworm endemic area, and who attended a well-child clinic.

Association of serum transferrin receptor concentration with markers of inflammation in Zimbabwean children.

Background: Clinical studies have shown that degree of erythropoiesis, the hypoxic response, and iron status each independently influences transferrin receptor concentration, but there is conflicting information regarding the effect of inflammation on transferrin receptor expression.

Subjects And Methods: Levels of hemoglobin, reticulocytes, serum ferritin, transferrin receptors and inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and neutrophils) were determined in 208 Zimbabwean children
Results: In linear regression models among 147 children with ferritin >10 ng/mL that adjusted for erythropoiesis with log(10) reticulocyte count, the hypoxic response with hemoglobin concentration and iron status with log(10) ferritin concentration, positive correlations were found between log(10) transferrin receptor concentration and log(10) C-reactive protein concentration (P=0.

Effect of ferroportin Q248H polymorphism on iron status in African children.

Background: Iron deficiency is common in African children, but genetic variations affecting susceptibility have not been identified. The Q248H mutation in ferroportin, a cellular iron exporter regulated by iron status and inflammation, may be associated with high iron stores in African adults.

Objective: The study examined the prevalence of iron deficiency in African children in an area where malaria transmission is low to absent and investigated whether ferroportin Q248H provides protection from iron deficiency.

Iron status in black persons is not influenced by haptoglobin polymorphism.

Iron status in man is influenced by environmental and genetic factors. The molecular variation of haptoglobin is one of the genetic factors influencing iron status in Caucasians. Differences in iron metabolism between blacks and whites have been reported.

Effect of transferrin polymorphism on the metabolism of vitamin C in Zimbabwean adults.

Background: Transferrin is the major iron binding protein in human plasma. In black persons, the transferrin CD phenotype has been associated with alterations in certain markers of iron status.

Objective: We studied vitamin C status in a Zimbabwean population according to transferrin phenotype because vitamin C metabolism is influenced by iron-driven oxidative stress.