Nonalcoholic fatty liver and metabolic syndrome in Italy: results from a multicentric study of the Italian Arteriosclerosis society.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with all the components of metabolic syndrome (MS) and might to be considered an additional component of MS itself. The Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis (SISA) in 2005 started a research project aimed to study the NAFLD, using ultrasound (US), in nondiabetic MS subjects matching at least one of the ATP III criteria for HDL-C or triglycerides [TG]. Prevalence of US-NAFLD and its associated risk factors and prevalence of hypertransaminasemia and its possible determinants were evaluated.

Prediction of incident type 2 diabetes mellitus based on a twenty-year follow-up of the Ventimiglia heart study.

A novel algorithm to predict incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (iT2DM) is presented considering data from a 20-year prospective study in a Southern Italy population. Eight hundred and fifty-eight out of 1,351 subjects (24-85 years range of age) were selected. Incident type 2 diabetes was diagnosed in 103 patients in a 20-year follow-up.

Obesity and the metabolic syndrome in a student cohort from Southern Italy.

Background And Aim: Cardiovascular (CV) risk factors present in childhood predict future CV events. Few data regarding the metabolic syndrome (MS) prevalence are available in adolescents from Mediterranean areas where obesity is becoming a social emergency. This study presents data of MS prevalence in a student cohort from southern Italy.

Effects of a phytosterol-enriched dairy product on lipids, sterols and 8-isoprostane in hypercholesterolemic patients: a multicenter Italian study.

Background And Aims: Plant sterols, added to several food sources, lower serum cholesterol concentrations. Plant sterol-induced cholesterol lowering is paralleled by a mild decrease in plasma levels of the antioxidant beta-carotene, the amount of this decrease being considered clinically non-significant. Whether the effect on lipid profile of daily consumption of plant sterol-enriched low-fat fermented milk (FM) is paralleled by a concomitant variation in a reliable marker of the oxidative burden like plasma isoprostane levels is unresolved.

Hypertension and diabetes mellitus are associated with cardiovascular events in the elderly without cardiovascular disease. Results of a 15-year follow-up in a Mediterranean population.

Background And Aims: Epidemiological prospective data on cardiovascular (CV) events in elderly subjects from Mediterranean populations are lacking. We aimed to investigate 15-year incidence of CV events and to evaluate the association with CV risk factors in an elderly Mediterranean population.

Methods And Results: The population of a small Sicilian village were enrolled, visited and a blood sample was drawn at baseline.