BACKGROUND:Studies have shown the bone mineral density of postmenopausal women is closely related to parathyroid hormone. But there are differences in different areas.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the association between BstBⅠ polymorphism of parathyroid hormone gene with bone mineral density in postmenopausal women from Fuzhou area.
METHODS:The bone mineral densities of the lumbar spine, femoral neck, trochanter and Ward’s triangle were measured in 150 postmenopausal women by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. The genotype of parathyroid hormone gene was determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1) The distribution of parathyroid hormone genotypes were BB genotype 68.8%, Bb 24.1%, and bb 7.1%. The B al elic gene frequencies reached 81%, while b was 19%. The distribution fol owed the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. (2) Analysis of the relationship between the genotypes and bone mineral density:There was no significant difference in the bone mineral densities of the lumbar spine, femur, neck, trochanter and Ward’s triangle among the three genotypes (P>0.05). BstBⅠ gene polymorphism of parathyroid hormone gene is not correlated to bone mineral density, and there is no enough evidence to support genotype of parathyroid hormone gene as a genetic marker in predicting the risk of developing osteoperosis in Fuzhou postmenopausal women.

Objective To predict the biological process and signaling pathways in which hsa-miR-1908 might be in-volved by a series of bioinformatics analysis, so as to lay foundations and provide theoretical basis for the further studies of hsa-miR-1908 biological function in human preadipocytes. Methods The sequence of hsa-miR-1908 was acquired from miR-Base database, and target genes of hsa-miR-1908 were predicted by miRanda, and then the intersection of the results and the results of gene-chip as gene set were further analyzed by gene ontology and pathway enrichment. Results The hsa-miR-1908 had some conserved property among different species. The functions of the target genes were enriched in Wnt receptor signal-ing pathway through beta-catenin, cell cycle, cell apeptosis and other biological processes. The GnRH signaling, MAPK sig-naling, insulin signaling, cell cycle signal transduction pathways and signaling pathway in pancreatic cancer were signiifcantly enriched. Conclusions The target genes set of hsa-miR-1908 were enriched in multiple biological process which are related with the obesity. This study provides guidance for the further study in human preadipocytes.

Objective To predict the functions of hsa-miR-1908 promoter using various bioinformatic tools, and to provide clues for further study on transcriptional regulation mechanism of miR-1908 in human adipocytes. Methods The promoter se-quence of miR-1908 was obtained from Ensemble, and then the CpG islands and transcription factor binding sites were pre-dicted by a variety of online bioinformatic tools. Results The length of the miR-1908 promoter sequence was 1 458 bp. The CpG islands, which inhibited the transcription of miR-1908, were located at (438-756) bp, (836-937) bp and (979-1374) bp. Meanwhile, 15 transcription factor binding sites were found in the promoter sequence of miR-1908. Conclusions miRNA up-stream promoter related bioinformatics can not only improve the efficiency of microRNA promoter research, but also provide further important information on transcriptional regulation of miR-1908.