The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of hypertension in healthy primary school children. A cross-sectional survey by manual blood pressure measurement of healthy children aged 6-12 years attending a national type school was carried out. Children with previous renal, cardiac and endocrine disorders were excluded. Korotkoff 1 represented the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and Korotkoff 5 was taken as the diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Hypertension was defined as the SBP or DBP above the 95th centile according to age group and sex regardless of ethnicity. A total of 1756 children were studied with 895 boy and 861 girls. The results showed that 109 children (6.2%) were found to have hypertension and the incidence was similar in boys and girls (6.4% vs 6.0%, p = 0.69). Fifty-three (48.6%) children had an elevated SBP and the DBP was elevated in 43 (39.4%) children. Only 12 (12.0%) children had both elevated SBP and DBP. Children found to have hypertension were more likely to be Chinese (p = 0.009) and obese (p = 0.04). In conclusion the overall prevalence of hypertension in children aged 6-12 years based on a single blood pressure measurement was 6.2%. Hypertension was more likely to be found in Chinese children and those who were obese.
The goal of this study was to determine the effects of PGZ and MK886 on the mRNA expression of PPARα and other associated genes in MDA-MB-231 cells, and the biological mechanisms induced by both drugs were also assessed. The levels of PPARα mRNA expression in PGZ-treated and MK886-treated MDA-MB-231 cells were determined using real-time PCR; the growth inhibitory effects of PGZ and MK886 were determined using the trypan blue exclusion assay; the induction of apoptosis by PGZ and MK886 was determined using DNA fragmentation assay and real-time PCR; and the invasion of PGZ-treated and MK886-treated MDA-MB-231 cells was determined using the wound healing and transwell migration assays. In addition, we correlated the expression of PPARα mRNA with other genes, including PPARγ, FGF4 and 5LOX, in drug-treated MDA-MB-231 cells. Our results demonstrated that the treatment of MDA-MB-231 cells with PGZ increased the expression of PPARα/γ mRNA and that this expression could be inhibited by treatment with MK886. Both drugs reduced the viability of MDA-MB-231 cells independently of PPARα/γ mRNA expression but did not induce apoptosis. The wound caused by invasion was not healed by PGZ-treated MDA-MB-231 cells, but it was healed by MK886-treated cancer cells, indicating that the reduction of invasion in PGZ-treated MDA-MB-231 cells was eliminated by treatment with MK886, and this finding was validated by the transwell migration assay. This phenomenon might also be associated with the expression of PPARα/γ, FGF4 and 5LOX mRNA in the treated cancer cells. This study provides useful information regarding the mRNA expression levels of PPARα and other related genes in MDA-MB-231 cells. These genes could be attractive targets for reducing the invasion of breast cancer.
In the present study, we aimed to preincubate MCF-10A cells with pioglitazone and/or serum-rich growth media and to determine adhesive and non-adhesive interactions of the preincubated MCF-10A cells with BT-474 cells. For this purpose, the MCF-10A cells were preincubated with pioglitazone and/or serum-rich growth media, at appropriate concentrations, for 1 week. The MCF-10A cells preincubated with pioglitazone and/or serum-rich growth media were then co-cultured adhesively and non-adhesively with BT-474 cells for another week. Co-culture of BT-474 cells with the preincubated MCF-10A cells, both adhesively and non-adhesively, reduced the growth of the cancer cells. The inhibitory effect of the preincubated MCF-10A cells against the growth of BT-474 cells was likely produced by increasing levels of soluble factors secreted by the preincubated MCF-10A cells into the conditioned medium, as immunoassayed by ELISA. However, only an elevated level of a soluble factor distinguished the conditioned medium collected from the MCF-10A cells preincubated with pioglitazone and serum-rich growth medium than that with pioglitazone alone. This finding was further confirmed by the induction of the soluble factor transcript expression in the preincubated MCF-10A cells, as determined using real-time PCR, for the above phenomenon. Furthermore, modification of the MCF-10A cells through preincubation did not change the morphology of the cells, indicating that the preincubated cells may potentially be injected into mammary fat pads to reduce cancer growth in patients or to be used for others cell-mediated therapy.
The present study aimed to investigate the effects of bone marrow‑derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) that had been pretreated with pioglitazone and/or rosiglitazone on the growth and proliferation rate of MCF‑7 cells. The adhesive interaction between the BMSCs and the MCF‑7 cancer cells revealed that the pretreatment of BMSCs with a combination of two types of thiazolidinedione drug reduced the growth and proliferation rate of the MCF‑7 cells. The proliferation rate of the MCF‑7 cells could also be reduced by the non‑adhesive interaction of the cancer cells with BMSCs pretreated with pioglitazone and/or rosiglitazone. The growth and proliferation rate reduction effects on the MCF‑7 cells may be attributed to the reduction in the protein level of fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF4) in the conditioned medium of the pretreated BMSCs. The evidence that the low protein level of FGF4 in the conditioned medium of the pretreated BMSCs perturbed the proliferation rate of the MCF‑7 cells by reducing the levels of Ki‑67 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen transcripts in the cancer cells was also demonstrated in the present study using a FGF4‑neutralizing antibody. All the above findings demonstrate that future studies on the correlation between FGF4 and pretreated BMSCs would be beneficial.
Blood pressure examination was done manually in 1756 healthy school children aged 6-12 years. Korotkoff 1 represented the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and Korotkoff 5 was taken as the diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Blood pressure percentile charts were then drawn up based on age group and sex regardless of ethnicity. There was a significant correlation between both SBP and DBP to increasing height, weight and body mass index.