London: New findings from a Swedish study of people with recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes could help doctors identify those at low risk for developing cardiovascular diseases versus those at higher risk.
Overall, people with type 2 diabetes are up to four times more likely to experience a heart attack, stroke, or another major cardiovascular event, compared to people without diabetes.
The 752 volunteers in the new study all had new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes, and none had a history of heart disease. During roughly seven years of follow-up, 102 of them suffered serious cardiovascular complications.
By analyzing blood samples obtained from participants at regular intervals, the researchers were able to track chemical changes in DNA over time.
Such changes, called DNA methylation, “control which genes are active or turned off in our cells, and when it does not work properly, it can contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease,” study leader Charlotte Ling of Lund University said in a statement.
The researchers found more than 400 sites with altered DNA methylation in blood. They were able to use 87 sites to develop a score scale that can assess patients’ risk of developing serious cardiovascular complications.
The scale’s negative predictive value – its accuracy at identifying patients at low risk of a major cardiovascular event – was 96%, researchers reported in Cell Reports Medicine.
But the scale was only about 32% accurate at identifying patients at high risk – possibly because the study has not yet followed them for a long enough period.
Still, the researchers wrote, their screening test “seems to be one of the most reliable prognostic tools” for discriminating patients with type 2 diabetes at low cardiac risk from those at possibly high risk, “allowing personalized treatment, optimized healthcare costs, and reduction of therapy-related side effects and patients’ worries.”
Healthcare providers currently look at clinical variables such as age, gender, blood pressure, smoking, harmful cholesterol, long-term blood sugar and kidney function to estimate the risk of future heart disease, “but it is a rather blunt tool,” Ling said.
“If you add DNA methylation, you have a much better measure of a future risk.”
COMPOUND IN MAPLE SYRUP FIGHTS TOOTH DECAY
A natural compound in the syrup from maple tree sap can help fight tooth decay, according to new findings that might lead to oral care products with no alcohol and fewer chemicals, researchers said.
The compound known as epicatechin gallate, or ECG, prevents cavity-causing bacteria from growing on teeth and “is a powerful and safe alternative to traditional plaque-fighting agents,” the researchers said in a statement.
“Its natural abundance, affordability and lack of toxicity make it especially promising for inclusion in oral care products such as mouthwashes, offering a safer option for young children, who often accidentally swallow mouthwash,” they added.
The idea for their study grew from their discovery in an unrelated experiment that Listeria bacteria – a common cause of food poisoning – can grow and form biofilms on most plants and wood but not on maple.
Working with maple sap and diluted maple syrup, the researchers isolated the compound that inhibits Listeria attachment and experimented to see whether it would have similar effects on Streptococcus mutans, the bacteria that cause biofilms on teeth, also known as plaque, and dental cavities.
The researchers first tested their theory in computer models, according to a report in Microbiology Spectrum.
Next, they confirmed that ECG inhibits the cavity-causing bacteria in test tube experiments. Finally, they determined that it blocks S. mutans from forming biofilms on plastic teeth and on disks made from hydroxyapatite, the substance in real tooth enamel.
ECG is also present in green and black tea, in much higher amounts than in maple sap or syrup. Drinking green tea has long been associated with lower rates of cavities, the authors said.
“Our findings suggest that ECG or (similar compounds with similar effects) could be added to dental products to help prevent cavities through an antibiofilm mechanism,” study leader Mark Gomelsky of the University of Wyoming said in a statement.
“This is different from traditional approaches, which rely on killing bacteria with alcohol, disinfectants or essential oils, or on fluoride to remineralize enamel.”
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; editing by Bill Berkrot)
