No abstract

Oxidative stress impairs endothelial function and may play an important role in the pathogenesis of acute cardiovascular diseases. Advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) were proposed as one of the possible markers of oxidative injury, which originates under oxidative and carbonyl stress and increase global inflammatory activity. The present study was undertaken to compare AOPP concentrations in a control group of healthy individuals without ICHS (I), patients with stable angina pectoris (II), patients with acute coronary syndrome over 48 hours without ST elevations (III), and patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (IV). Coronaronary angiography, risk factors and anamnestic data were analyzed. We examined 73 probands with signs of myocardial ischemia, mean age of 61.5 years (64 % males) subjected to coronarography and 21 healthy individuals. No significant difference was found between venous blood and coronary samples, or between infarction and non-infarction arteries in the group IV. AOPP concentrations in healthy individuals in the group I (82.9 ± 29.3 mmol/l) did not differ significantly from patients in group II (89.6 ± 26.7 mmol/l) and group III (112.3 ± 54.6 mmol/l). A significant difference in AOPP values was found between the groups I and IV, and between the groups II and IV (82.9 ± 29.3 mmol/l vs. 125.8 ± 101 mmol/l, p = 0.02, and 89.6 ± 26.7 mmol/l vs. 125.8 ± 101 mmol/l, p = 0.02). No correlations were found between AOPP and body mass index (BMI), nicotinism, left ventricular ejection fraction, parameters of glucose and lipid metabolism. ROC analysis revealed that AOPP concentrations of 89 mmol/l had 64 % sensitivity and 71 % specificity for revealing an acute coronary syndrome (AUC 0.65, 95 % CI 0.55-0.80). AOPP are significantly increased in patients with acute coronary syndromes with ST segment elevation, but also tend to increase in patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. Our observations suggest that AOPP may be used as a marker of oxidative stress and as a prognostic factor for severe forms of cardiovascular disease. A cutoff value of 89 mmol/l can be used with 64 % sensitivity and 71 % specificity for revealing acute coronary syndrome.

Resistin is a recently discovered signal molecule, which could help elucidation of the pathophysiology of the insulin resistance and its correlation with obesity. As little information was available about resistin determination in venous blood at the time of our study, we focused on the question whether any correlation exists between persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus, with systemic inflammation, healthy persons and resistin concentrations and laboratory markers of inflammation, peptone, BMI. Differences of resistin values in these types of volunteers were studied as well.Methods: Persons under study were divided into 3 groups: group A -with clinical signs of inflammatory disease of respiratory tract, leukocytosis > 10000/ul and CRP concentration > 50 mg/l (n = 35); group B -with well controlled type 2 DM treated by oral antidiabetic drugs, without clinical signs of inflammation and negative case history of acute disease (n = 12); group C -without clinical signs of inflammation and negative case history of acute disease (n = 77). For all volunteers we determined BMI index and examined resistin, leptin, interleukin 6, TNF-alpha, Na, K, Cl, insulin, cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triacylglycerols, creatinine, uric acid, ALT, AST, GMT, P, Mg and albumin in serum.Results: Persons with clinical signs of severe inflammation had higher concentrations of Il6, CRP, resistin and a markedly lower BMI, decreased values of glucose, sodium, triacylglycerols, cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol compared to diabetics of type 2 (p < 0.05). Persons with clinical signs of severe inflammation showed significantly higher concentrations of TNF-alpha, Il6, CRP, resistin, glucose, leptin and considerably lower values of albumin, sodium and HDL-cholesterol than healthy individuals (p < 0.05). Persons with type 2 DM had markedly higher values of BMI, CRP, glucose, triacylglycerols, LDL-cholesterol, GMT and leptin, compared to healthy volunteers (p < 0.05). None of the three groups differed markedly in age or sex.Healthy volunteers show a significant correlation between leptin and resistin (correlation coefficient 0.82); this correlation was not found in patients with inflammation and type 2 DM. The group of volunteers with inflammations was found to have a significant positive correlation between resistin and inflammatory markers (correlation coefficient 0.3-0.5), negative correlation between resistin and cholesterol. We also found positive correlations between leptin and BMI as well as negative correlations between leptin and CRP. No significant correlations between resistin and other studied parameters were found in persons with type 2 DM.Conclusion: In healthy population a correlation was found between leptin and resistin concentrations in serum. In patients with severe inflammatory disease a correlation between resistin concentration and laboratory markers of inflammation was shown, however, no correlation was found between leptin and resistin. Resistin concentration in the serum of these patients is s...

The cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used for the measurement of the plasma total antioxidant capacity from two types of patients. The first one consisted of 29 volunteers (men aged 18-21 years) who were administered placebo or silymarin at a dose of 858 mg/day. After two months of silymarine administration, CV revealed a statistically significant increase in total antioxidant capacity compared to placebo. No statistically significant changes in TBARS, SH-groups, creatininin, urea, and uric acid concentrations were found. The second group under study comprised 49 patients with chronic renal disease during dialysis therapy. After dialysis, CV revealed a decrease of total antioxidant capacity in the plasma, which was equivalent to a decrease in creatinine, urea and uric acid. CV was performed using a system consisting of a working glassy carbon electrode, an auxiliary platinum electrode, and a reference saturated calomel electrode; a linear change of voltage of 200 mV/s was applied. CV is a simple and relatively reliable method for assessment of body antioxidant status. It is also time and cost effective.

The GI's for white bread and juicy cereal bars were determined. There was no difference either between the GI values determined in the morning vs. the evening hours or between the values in men vs. women. The results show wide variability. An accurate standard method for the determination of GI needs to be defined, carefully used and re-evaluated to enable a comparison of the results with various methods of other working groups.