Variants of a gene contribute to the high risk of kidney disease among diabetics of Chinese descent compared with Caucasians, a study said on Wednesday.
Asians patients tend to have a higher likelihood of kidney failure, a major cause of death among diabetics. Diabetes rates have been soaring in China as rising prosperity changes lifestyles.
Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers linked renal disease risk to variants of the gene PRKCB1 among people of Chinese origin in Hong Kong.
The study, led by Ronald Ma of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, looked primarily at 1,172 diabetics recruited between 1995 and 1998 when they showed no signs of kidney problems.
CHRONIC
After 7.9 years on average, 90 patients — or 7.7 percent of the total — developed chronic kidney disease.
A DNA analysis showed that patients who had four common variants of PRKCB1 were six times more likely to suffer kidney disease than those with only one or no variant of the same gene, the study said.
The findings “suggest that genetic variation in the PRKCBl gene is an important determinant for the risk of developing [diabetic kidney disease] in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes,” the authors wrote.
INSULIN
Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, is the incapability to use insulin, the hormone produced in the pancreas that regulates sugar in the bloodstream.
A study in March found that China is faced with a diabetes epidemic, with one in 10 adults suffering from the disease because of increasingly unhealthy diets, a lack of exercise and high rates of smoking.
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
A highway bomb attack in a restive region of southwestern Colombia on Saturday killed 14 people and injured at least 38, the latest spate of violence ahead of next month’s presidential election. Authorities blamed the attack in the Cauca department — a conflict-ridden, coca-growing region — on dissidents of the now-disbanded FARC guerrilla army, who have been sowing violence across the country. “Those who carried out this attack ... are terrorists, fascists and drug traffickers,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on social media. “I want our very best soldiers to confront them,” he added. The leftist leader blamed the bombing
From post offices and parks to stations and even the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan’s vending machines are ubiquitous, but with the rapid pace of inflation cooling demand for their drinks, operators are being forced to rethink the business. Last month beverage giant DyDo Group Holdings announced it would remove about 20,000 vending machines — about 7 percent of their stock nationwide — by January next year, to “reconstruct a profitable network.” Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage, based in Nagoya, also said last month it would sell its 40,000-machine operation to Osaka-based Lifedrink Co. “The strength of the vending machine
RSS