Significant increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with fibrates is associated with low pretreatment high-density lipoprotein cholesterol: findings from an outpatient clinic setting.

Background: Change in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) observed in large randomized controlled trials using fibrates has varied. Inconsistent cardiovascular outcomes have also been the common theme of these trials. Subgroup analysis of even the negative trials, however, reveals significant reduction in cardiovascular disease in patients with low HDL-C and high triglycerides.

Serum leptin and its relation to anthropometric measures of obesity in pre-diabetic Saudis.

Background: Little information is available on leptin concentrations in individuals with IGT. This study aims to determine and correlate leptin levels to anthropometric measures of obesity in pre-diabetic, (IFG and IGT), type 2 diabetic and normoglycaemic Saudis.

Methods: 308 adult Saudis (healthy controls n = 80; pre-diabetes n = 86; Type 2 diabetes n = 142) participated.

RT-PCR for the pseudogene-free amplification of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (gapd).

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is an enzyme which catalyses the conversion of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate to 1,3 diphosphoglycerate. It is considered to be constitutively expressed in all cells, and as such the gene for GAPDH (gapd) is commonly used as a benchmark reference in expression studies. However, previous investigations have demonstrated that gapd may show altered gene expression in a number of disease states and under certain experimental conditions, suggesting that results of experiments using gapd as a control should be interpreted with caution.

Association between the cholesteryl ester transfer protein TaqI-detectable B polymorphism and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration in Saudis.

Plasma concentrations of HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol are low in the Saudi Arabian population. A B polymorphism at the CETP (cholesteryl ester protein transfer) locus that is detectable with the restriction enzyme Taq I is a genetic determinant of the plasma HDL cholesterol concentration. We assessed the relationship between the Taq I B CETP polymorphism and lipid and apolipoprotein concentrations in a study sample of 335 Saudi residents.