Circulating fetuin-A in patients with pancreatic cancer: a hospital-based case-control study.

Context: A proteomic analysis has proposed fetuin-A (alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein) as a new potential marker for pancreatic cancer (PC).

Objective: Circulating fetuin-A levels in patients with PC.

Methods: Serum fetuin-A was measured in 81 cases with PC and 81 matched controls before the initiation of any treatment.

Higher fetuin-A, lower adiponectin and free leptin levels mediate effects of excess body weight on insulin resistance and risk for myelodysplastic syndrome.

Objective: Excess body weight has been implicated in the pathogenesis of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). We thus explored the role of serum fetuin-A reflecting ectopic hepatic fat deposition when storage capacity of adipocytes has been exceeded, free leptin reflecting overall fat mass and adiponectin reflecting visceral fat mass, all potential mediators of the effects of obesity on insulin resistance and, consequently, to MDS risk.

Materials & Methods: In a hospital-based case-control study, we studied 101 cases with incident, histologically confirmed primary MDS and 101 controls matched on gender, age and date of diagnosis, between 2004 and 2007.

Serum levels of ischemia modified albumin in overweight/obese postmenopausal women: a potential biomarker of atherosclerotic burden associated with oxidative stress.

Objective: Menopause is associated with weight gain and an increase of cardiovascular risk. The aim of the present study was to estimate serum ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) levels in postmenopausal women and evaluate their association with body mass index (BMI) and coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods: The study included 130 non-smoker postmenopausal women aged 43-80: 40 with BMI 26-32 kg/m(2) (Group A), 60 with BMI 21-25 kg/m(2) (Group B), and 30 with documented CAD and BMI 23-29 kg/m(2) (Group C).

Platelet markers correlate with glycemic indices in diabetic, but not diabetic-myelodysplastic patients with normal platelet count.

Background: Altered thrombocyte morphology and function have been reported in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) type 2. The aim of the present study was to determine the associations between platelet morphology markers and hemoglobin A1C (HbA(1c)), fasting glucose (FG), hypertension and coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and DM, in patients with DM and in controls.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 30 cases with primary MDS with normal platelet count and non-insulin dependent diabetes, 30 non-insulin dependent diabetic patients and 30 non-diabetic, non-MDS controls matched on age and gender.