Article Sidebar
Published:
Sep 27, 2021DOI:
10.4314/ahs.v21i3.26Keywords:
Article Details
While African Health Sciences has been freely accessible online there have been questions on whether it is Open Access or not. We wish to clearly state that indeed African Health Sciences is Open Access. There are key issues regarding Open Access needing clarification for avoidance of doubt:
- 1. Henceforth, papers in African Health Sciences will be published under the CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution License) 4.0 International. See details on https://creativecomons.org/)
- 2. The copyright owners or the authors grant the 3rd party (perpetually and in advance) the right to disseminate, reproduce, or use the research papers in part or in full, format/medium as long as:
- No substantive errors are introduced in the process
- Attribution of authorship and correct citation details are given
- The referencing details are not changed.
Should the papers be reproduced in part, this must be clearly stated.
- 3. The papers will be freely and universally accessible online in an easily readable format such as XML in at least one widely recognized open access repository such as PUBMED CENTRAL.
B. ABRIDGED LICENCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN AUTHORS AND African Health Sciences
I submitted my manuscript to African Health Sciences and would like to affirm that:
1.0 I am authorized by my co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
2.0 I guarantee, on behalf of self and co-authors:
- That the paper is original, and has not been published in any other peer-reviewed journal; nor is it under consideration by other journal (s). It does not infringe existing copyright or any other person’s rights
- That we are/I am the sole author(s) of the paper and with authority to enter into this agreement. My granting rights to African Health Sciences is not in breach of any other obligation
- That the paper contains nothing unlawful, or libelous. Nor anything that would constitute a breach of contract, confidence or commitment given to secrecy, if published
- That I/we have taken care to ensure the integrity of the article.
3.0 I and all co-authors, agree that the paper, if accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. (see https://creativecommons.org/)
Main Article Content
Gut permeability is associated with hypertension and measures of obesity but not with Endothelial Dysfunction in South African youth
Abstract
Background: Though gut permeability has shown to be associated with measures of obesity and hypertension, its relation- ship with endothelial dysfunction, an early predictor for cardiovascular diseases remains unknown.
Objective: This study assessed the relationship between hypertension, measures of obesity, gut permeability and endothelial dysfunction.
Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study which enrolled 151 South African youths was conducted. Anthropometric and blood pressure measurements were performed. Zonulin, a marker for gut permeability; adiponectin, an anti-inflamma- tory molecule, as well as asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and Nitric oxide (NO) which are markers for endothelial- function were assayed.
Results: Approximately eighteen percent (17.88%) of the participants were hypertensive while 40.4% were pre-hyperten- sive. Adiponectin significantly increased in hypertensive subjects and negatively correlated (p<0.05) with measures of obesity but was not associated with gut permeability and endothelial dysfunction. Increased body mass index (BMI) and visceral fat (VF) predicted reduced adiponectin (inflammation). Zonulin was significantly higher (p<0.05) in hypertensive subjects and positively associated (p<0.05) with systolic blood pressure (SBP) in females. A positive relationship (p<0.05) was observed between zonulin and measurements of obesity. Moreover, zonulin negatively associated (p<0.05) with ADMA but positively associated (p<0.05) with NO in males. Increased VF and waist circumference predicted gut permeability.
Conclusion: Gut permeability was associated with hypertension and measures of obesity but not with markers of endothe- lial dysfunction in a South African youth population.
Keywords: Gut permeability; hypertension; obesity; endothelial dysfunction; inflammation.
