Essential hypertension is a multifactorial disease. Many experimental studies have elucidated the role of oxidative stress and atherosclerosis in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension. Apolipoprotein E is a plasma protein that is found to have antioxidant properties, and it also protects against atherosclerosis. Interestingly, the biological function of apolipoprotein E is strongly affected by polymorphisms in its gene. Based on this evidence, our aim was to investigate the association of apolipoprotein E gene polymorphisms with essential hypertension. Methods: This study was conducted on 70 hypertensive patients and 73 control participants recruited from the Balok governmental health clinic in Kuantan, Pahang. The polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism assay (PCR-RFLP) was used for determination of the apolipoprotein E genotype. Our results were also verified later by direct sequencing of the amplicons. Results: There was no significant association of apolipoprotein E allele or genotype frequencies with hypertensive disease or blood pressure levels, although the E4 allele was slightly more frequent in the hypertensive patients than in the control group (OR=1.055; 0.471–2.359, CI 95%). To improve the precision of the study and to settle the controversies among similar studies meta-analysis was performed; however it revealed a net nonsignificant association between the apolipoprotein E4 allele with essential hypertension in the combined population. Conclusion: Our data and the meta-analysis findings provide evidence that apolipoprotein E gene polymorphism has no direct significant association with hypertension.

The cooking process may emit toxic compounds and airway irritants from both the fuel combustion and cooking fumes which is harmful to the respiratory health among the restaurant workers. A cross-sectional study of 243 restaurant workers from the selected restaurants in Sungai Long, Malaysia was conducted. The standardized British Medical Research Council questionnaire on Respiratory Symptoms (1986) was used during the interview to access the symptoms and the spirometry test was performed to evaluate the pulmonary functions of the participants. The data of socio-demography and occupational characteristics were also collected. The most complaint respiratory symptoms by the restaurant workers were breathlessness, which accounted for 33.7%, followed by wheezing (14%). The mean values of all pulmonary function tests (PFT) of the restaurant workers were within the normal range (>80%), except for the Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF) (79.09%). The results of the bivariate statistical analysis, Chi-square, ANOVA and t-test, showed the determining factors of the respiratory health among the workers were workers’ age and gender in addition to the working duration and the ethnicity. The restaurant workers in Sungai Long were at risk of developing respiratory symptoms and lower pulmonary function values due to prolonged exposure to cooking fumes. Emphasis should be given to the safety and health of restaurant workers and health education should be provided to the restaurant workers and owners. Strategies to increase notification of such occurrences among these workers should be looked into by related agencies in the country.