Helicobacter pylori in sedentary men is linked to higher heart rate, sympathetic activity, and insulin resistance but not inflammation or oxidative stress

Aiding gastrointestinal diagnostic laboratory by designing a device for the non invasive detection of peptic ulcer

Peptic ulcer (PU) has been recognized as an utmost gastrointestinal problem that affects the lining of the stomach and duodenum, specifically triggering soreness. It is a life-threatening condition, while roots of the infection are not identified yet. There are various risk factors for the cause of peptic ulcer disease, but the most significant is "Helicobacter pylori" (H. pylori). The detection of this disease involves different invasive procedures which are painful and not feasible for everyone. The aim of this device is to identify the peptic ulcer non-invasively by unmasking the presence of H. Pylori bacterium by monitoring crucial parameters of the disease which include respiration rate, heart rate, ECG, pH of Saliva, and temperature. Multiple investigations related to PU authenticate the alteration in these physicochemical aspects of the body. The increase in the level of stomach acid in PU is responsible for belching and bloating. Heart rate, temperature, and respiratory rate are also elevated during peptic ulcers while the pH of Saliva is decreased toward the acidic side. The disturbance in the QRS complex of the ECG wave is also observed. These biosignals are examined as analog input from the body, sent into MCP3008, and converted into digital input signals. Then these digital inputs are directed toward Raspberry pi 3 which processes, received inputs, and shows output on the LCD. The values of parameters obtained are then compared with standard values and a conclusion is made that whether a patient has a peptic ulcer or not.

Aging Affects Insulin Resistance, Insulin Secretion, and Glucose Effectiveness in Subjects with Normal Blood Glucose and Body Weight

AIM

Several studies have demonstrated that factors including diabetes, including insulin resistance (IR), glucose effectiveness (GE), and the first and second phase of insulin secretion (FPIS, SPIS) could easily be calculated using basic characteristics and biochemistry profiles. Aging is accompanied by deteriorations of insulin resistance (IR) and insulin secretion. However, little is known about the roles of aging in the different phases of insulin secretion (ISEC), i.e., the first and second phase of insulin secretion (FPIS, SPIS), and glucose effectiveness (GE).

METHODS

In total, 169 individuals (43 men and 126 women) recruited from the data bank of the Meei-Jaw (MJ) Health Screening Center and Cardinal Tien Hospital Data Access Center between 1999 and 2008, with a similar fasting plasma glucose (FPG: 90 mg/dL) and BMI (men: 23 kg/m², women 22 kg/m²) were enrolled. The IR, FPIS, SPIS, and GE were estimated using our previously developed equations shown below. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to assess the correlations between age and four diabetes factors (DFs: IR, FPIS, SPIS, and GE). The equations that are used to calculate the DF in the present study were built and published by our group.

RESULTS

The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 78 years. Men had higher FPIS but lower HDL-C levels than women (2.067 ± 0.159, 1.950 ± 0.186 μU/min and 1.130 ± 0.306, 1.348 ± 0.357 mmol/dl, accordingly). The results of the Pearson correlation revealed that age was negatively related to the IR and GE in both genders (IR: r = -0.39, p < 0.001 for men, r = -0.24, p < 0.003 for women; GE: r = 0.66, p < 0.001 for men, r = 0.78, p < 0.001 for women). At the same time, the FPIS was also only found to be negatively correlated with age in females (r = -0.238, p = 0.003), but there was no difference in the SPIS and age among both genders.

CONCLUSIONS

We have found that in Chinese subjects with a normal FPG level (90 mg/dL) and body mass index (men: 23 kg/m², women: 22: kg/m²), age is negatively related to the IR and GE among both genders. Only the FPIS was found to be negatively related to age in women. The tightness of their relationships, from the highest to the lowest, are GE, FPIS, and IR. These results should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size.

Serum cortisone and glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) polymorphism in human dysglycemia

PURPOSE

We aimed to explore the associations of serum cortisone and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) polymorphism with glucose metabolism and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among Chinese adults.

METHODS

A total of 2315 participants were included in the present study. Serum cortisone was measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Multivariable logistic regression and linear regression were employed to assess the associations between serum cortisone and different glucose metabolism status.

RESULTS

Serum cortisone was positively associated with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and T2DM ((Quartile 4 vs Quartile 1, odds ratio (OR) = 1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01, 1.84, and OR = 2.08, 95% CI 1.50, 2.89, respectively)). A 100% increase in cortisone was associated with a 0.015 (95% CI 0.005, 0.025) mg/dl higher fasting plasma glucose (FPG), a 0.007 (95% CI 0.001, 0.013) higher glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), a 0.4% (95% CI - 0.007, 0.000) lower HOMA2-IR, and a 58.1% (95% CI - 0.788, - 0.373) lower HOMA2-β. After stratification by genotype, the association between serum cortisone and T2DM was not significant in TT genotype carriers. In addition, at the higher concentrations of cortisone, TT genotype carriers had a lower FPG, HbA1c, and HOMA2-IR and a higher HOMA2-β than GG and GT carriers.

CONCLUSIONS

Elevated serum cortisone was associated with an increased risk of IFG and T2DM, and the associations may be modified by rs9324924 polymorphism.

Glucose as a Major Antioxidant: When, What for and Why It Fails?

A human organism depends on stable glucose blood levels in order to maintain its metabolic needs. Glucose is considered to be the most important energy source, and glycolysis is postulated as a backbone pathway. However, when the glucose supply is limited, ketone bodies and amino acids can be used to produce enough ATP. In contrast, for the functioning of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) glucose is essential and cannot be substituted by other metabolites. The PPP generates and maintains the levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) needed for the reduction in oxidized glutathione and protein thiols, the synthesis of lipids and DNA as well as for xenobiotic detoxification, regulatory redox signaling and counteracting infections. The flux of glucose into a PPP—particularly under extreme oxidative and toxic challenges—is critical for survival, whereas the glycolytic pathway is primarily activated when glucose is abundant, and there is lack of NADP⁺ that is required for the activation of glucose-6 phosphate dehydrogenase. An important role of glycogen stores in resistance to oxidative challenges is discussed. Current evidences explain the disruptive metabolic effects and detrimental health consequences of chronic nutritional carbohydrate overload, and provide new insights into the positive metabolic effects of intermittent fasting, caloric restriction, exercise, and ketogenic diet through modulation of redox homeostasis.

4-Hydroxynonenal in Redox Homeostasis of Gastrointestinal Mucosa: Implications for the Stomach in Health and Diseases

Maintenance of integrity and function of the gastric mucosa (GM) requires a high regeneration rate of epithelial cells during the whole life span. The health of the gastric epithelium highly depends on redox homeostasis, antioxidant defense, and activity of detoxifying systems within the cells, as well as robustness of blood supply. Bioactive products of lipid peroxidation, in particular, second messengers of free radicals, the bellwether of which is 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE), are important mediators in physiological adaptive reactions and signaling, but they are also thought to be implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous gastric diseases. Molecular mechanisms and consequences of increased production of HNE, and its protein adducts, in response to stressors during acute and chronic gastric injury, are well studied. However, several important issues related to the role of HNE in gastric carcinogenesis, tumor growth and progression, the condition of GM after eradication of Helicobacter pylori, or the relevance of antioxidants for HNE-related redox homeostasis in GM, still need more studies and new comprehensive approaches. In this regard, preclinical studies and clinical intervention trials are required, which should also include the use of state-of-the-art analytical techniques, such as HNE determination by immunohistochemistry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), as well as modern mass-spectroscopy methods.

A Helicobacter pylori-associated insulin resistance in asymptomatic sedentary young men does not correlate with inflammatory markers and urine levels of 8-iso-PGF2-α or 1,4-dihydroxynonane mercapturic acid

A potential contribution of H. pylori contamination to low-grade inflammation, oxidative stress (OS) and insulin resistance as well as correlations between these parameters in asymptomatic sedentary males was analysed. We enrolled 30 apparently healthy asymptomatic young subjects (18 H. pylori negative and 12 positive) and measured whole blood glucose, glycated haemoglobin, insulin, C-peptide, cortisol, aldosterone, testosterone, thyroid stimulating hormone, C-reactive protein, interleukins 6 and 10, TNF-alpha and comet assay. As markers of OS, we used urine levels of iso-PGF₂-α and 1,4-dihydroxynonane mercapturic acid (DHN-MA). Twofold elevation of fasting insulin level and HOMA index in H. pylori-positive subjects (p < .05) was shown. Inflammatory parameters and monocyte DNA damage, urine levels of DHN-MA and iso-PGF2-α did not show significant differences between the groups. The early stage of H. pylori-triggered metabolic derangements in sedentary subjects include development of insulin resistance in H. pylori-positive subjects; however, there is no evidence of systemic inflammatory and OS-related changes.

Amaranth oil reduces accumulation of 4-hydroxynonenal-histidine adducts in gastric mucosa and improves heart rate variability in duodenal peptic ulcer patients undergoing Helicobacter pylori eradication

Helicobacter pylori-induced oxidative stress in gastric mucosa (GM) is a milieu for the development of chronic gastritis, duodenal peptic ulcer (DPU), gastric cancer, and a number of extragastric diseases. Because our previous study revealed the accumulation of the protein adducts of lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) in GM, which persists after eradication of H. pylori, the aim of the study was to test whether Amaranth oil supplementation in addition to standard anti-Helicobacter treatment could prevent such accumulation of HNE in GM in H. pylori-positive DPU patients. Seventy-five patients were randomly split into two groups: group 1 - standard treatment (n = 39) and group 2 - standard treatment with additional supplementation of 1 ml of concentrated oil from amaranth seeds (Amaranthus cruenthus L., n = 36). Clinical analysis, including endoscopy with biopsies from antrum and corpus of the stomach were performed before and after the treatment, as was heart rate variability (HRV) recorded, as parameter of systemic, extragastric pathophysiological alterations in DPU patients. Improvement of clinical, endoscopic and histologic manifestations, and successful ulcer healing were observed in both the groups. Moreover, supplementation of amaranth oil in addition to standard anti-H. pylori treatment significantly reduced accumulation of HNE-histidine adducts in GM and increased HRV in DPU patients (p < .05). Therefore, standard treatments of DPU require additional therapeutic approaches, in accordance with integrative medicine principles, aiming to reduce persistence of oxidative stress, as was successfully done in our study by the use of amaranth oil.

The Correlation and Risk Factors between Carotid Intima-Media Thickening and Alcoholic Liver Disease Coupled with Helicobacter pylori Infection

The aim of this study was to explore the associations and differences in influencing factors between alcoholic liver disease (ALD) coupled with Helicobacter pylori infection and atherosclerosis and to determine whether there is a "double hit phenomenon" in atherosclerosis patients with ALD and H. pylori infections. Included cases (n = 160) were categorized into 4 groups: 41 cases of ALD coupled with H. pylori infections (group A), 35 cases of H. pylori infections without ALD (group B), 37 cases of ALD without H. pylori infections (group C), and 47 normal control cases (group D). CIMT was significantly greater in group A than in groups B and D (P = 0.005 and P = 0.001, respectively). The GLM univariate analysis found that CIMT was significantly greater in group A than in groups B, C and D (P = 0.018, P = 0.001 and P = 0.009, respectively). We found that BMI and ALT, AST and ApoB levels were independent predictors of CIMT (P = 0.000, P = 0.000, P = 0.012 and P = 0.014, respectively). ALD coupled with H. pylori infection may result in significant CIMT thickening, but H. pylori infection without ALD and ALD without H. pylori infection does not, suggesting that a "double hit phenomenon" occurs. Additionally, BMI, and ALT, AST and ApoB levels were independent risk factors for increased CIMT.