Lipid and non-lipid cardiovascular risk factors in postmenopausal type 2 diabetic women with and without coronary heart disease.

BACKGROUND: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in diabetic women. In addition to hyperglycemia, other factors may contribute to the excessive cardiovascular risk. AIM: In this study we evaluated common and emerging risk factors in a selected group of postmenopausal type 2 diabetic women with (n = 36) and without CHD (n = 59), not taking lipid-lowering medications. METHODS: Clinical and lifestyle data were collected, and metabolic and lipid profile, as well as fasting plasma levels of total homocysteine (tHcy), folate, vitamin B12, C-reactive protein (hsCRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) were measured in all participants. RESULTS: Age, menopause and diabetes duration, family history for cardiovascular disease, prevalence of hypertension and current insulin use were greater in diabetic women with than without CHD (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). CHD women also showed higher levels of triglycerides, small dense LDL (sdLDL), remnant-like particle cholesterol, tHcy, and VCAM-1, and a lower creatinine clearance (P < 0.05 all). Conversely, the two groups were comparable for BMI, waist circumference, smoking habit, fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), HDL cholesterol, folate, vitamin B12, hsCRP and IL-6 levels. At multivariate analysis, lower creatinine clearance (OR = 0.932, P = 0.017) and higher sdLDL serum concentration (OR = 1.224, P = 0.037) were the strongest risk factors associated with CHD in this population, whereas no significant association was noted with LDL-C. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that beyond LDL-C, a lower creatinine clearance and more subtle alterations of LDL particles, together with a constellation of several well known and emerging cardiovascular risk factors, are stronger contributors to the high CHD risk of diabetic women.

Prickly Pear Betalain-Rich Extracts as New Promising Strategy for Intestinal Inflammation: Plant Complex vs. Main Isolated Bioactive Compounds.

Recently, many studies have highlighted the health effects of betalains beyond their use as food dyes. The present study investigated betalain-rich extracts with different colors and their main bioactive compounds in order to provide first evidence as a new promising strategy for intestinal inflammation management. Prickly pear betalain-rich extracts, obtained by a QuEChERS method, have been characterized by LC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS analysis. The potential role of betanin, indicaxanthin, and prickly pear extracts in counteracting the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory events was evaluated by several in vitro cell-free and cell-based assays. Indicaxanthin and betanin represent the most abundant compounds (≥22.27 ± 4.50 and 1.16 ± 0.17 g/100 g dry extract, respectively). Prickly pear extracts showed the strongest antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities with respect to the pure betalains both on in vitro cell-free and cell-based assays, demonstrating the occurrence of synergistic activity, without any cytotoxicity or alteration of the barrier systems. The release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and key inflammatory markers (IL-6, IL-8, and NO) was strongly inhibited by both betalains and even more by prickly pear extracts, which showed a similar and sometimes better profile than the reference compounds trolox and dexamethasone in counteracting the IL-1ß-induced intestinal inflammation.

Enfermedad de Chagas natural en perros: estudios serológicos anatomopatológicos y electrocardiográficos de la fase crónica indeterminada de la infección / Natural Chagas'disease in dogs: a serologic eletrocardiographic and histopathologic study in the indetermined chronic phase of infection

Conociéndose la dificuldad para desarrollar modelos experimentales para la fase crónica de la tripanosomiasis sudamericana, se efectuaron estudios serológicos, electrocardiográficos y anatomopatológicos en perros de área endémica naturalmente infectados. Se efectuó serología a 189 perros del radio urbano y suburbano de Resistencia (Chago) determinándose una prevalencia de infección de 17,46% , semejante a la de la infección humana de la zona (17,98% ). Los títulos fueron bajos, los mayores de 1/512. A 33 animales con serología positiva y a 38 con serología negativa se los estudió con electrocardiograma y necropsia. En los animales con serología positiva las alteraciones electrocardiográficas fueron infrecuentes, mínimas e inespecíficas. Anatomopatológicamente se encontró miocarditis focal y áreas de fibrosis en 7 animales. Ninguno mostró signos de insuficiencia cardíaca congestiva ni alteraciones electrocardiográficas compatibles con cardiopatía chagásia crónica. No se halló correlación alguna entre los trazados electrocardiográficos y los hallazgos anatomopatológicos. Por lo expuesto los animales estudiados se hallan en la fase crónica indeterminada o no característica de la infección chagásica, correspondiéndose en todos sus caracteres a las descripciones efectuadas por otros autores en perros infectados experimentalmente, pudiendo se útiles como modelo de investigación de esta fase