Comparative study of the effects of Abexol and atorvastatin in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Aim Of The Study: To investigate the efficacy and safety of Abexol and atorvastatin in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Material and methods: The present study had a monocentric, randomized, double-blinded, comparative design with 4 parallel groups - group 1 (Abexol), group 2 (atorvastatin), group 3 (combined therapy) and group 4 (placebo) - to which dietary recommendations and physical activity practice were provided twice a day, for 24 weeks. Significant changes in the ultrasound analysis of the liver were considered a primary efficacy variable.

[Diagnostic concordance between seven definitions of metabolic syndrome in overweight and obese adults].

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the level of diagnostic concordance between seven definitions of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a group of overweight and obese adults.

Materials And Methods: 350 subjects aged from 19 to 70 years were recruited for study from a clinic for overweight and obese subjects. The definitions of MS used were those given by the WHO (World Health Organization), EGIR (European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance), NCEP- ATPIII (Adult Treatment Panel), AHA/NHLBI (American Heart Association), IDF (International Diabetes Federation), and JIS (Joint Interim Statement) as well as the Szabo criteria.

Effects of Obex in Overweight and Obese Subjects With or Without Impaired Fasting Glucose: A Pilot Study.

Obex is a dietary supplement to help weight loss. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Obex in overweight/obese participants with or without impaired fasting glucose. This was an open-label pilot study conducted with 40 overweight and obese subjects, 23-60 years old with a body mass index of 25-44 kg/m (20 participants with impaired fasting glucose [IFG] and 20 with normal glucose levels).

Visual estimation of the percentage of DNA in the tail in the comet assay: evaluation of different approaches in an intercomparison exercise.

One of the difficulties in the comparison of results between laboratories working with the comet assay is the great diversity of parameters used to express DNA damage and the lack of conversion factors between the majority of them. Here we report a scorer-independent conversion curve to transform the values of DNA damage reported in arbitrary units (AU) into estimated percentage of DNA in the tail (E%T), and the results obtained in an intercomparison exercise where the effectiveness of this curve and two others proposed in the literature (E%T=AU/4 and E%T=(AU/5)+10) were tested. To obtain the conversion curve, human lymphocytes were first treated with radiation or H(2)O(2).

Sensitivity and variability of visual scoring in the comet assay. Results of an inter-laboratory scoring exercise with the use of silver staining.

Nineteen scorers from seven Cuban laboratories participated in this slide exercise designed to test the influence of the scorer on the accuracy, sensitivity and variability of the comet assay when a visual method of DNA damage evaluation is used. The assay was performed using human lymphocytes from a single donor exposed in vitro for 5 min at 0 degrees C to doses of 0, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 microM of hydrogen peroxide. Each participant scored the same set of 14 coded slides with silver stained comets.