Selected routine laboratory tests in the clinical assessment of patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a chronic disease characterized by repetitive complete or partial occlusion of the upper airways during sleep with respiratory muscle effort, which leads to consecutive apneas and hypopneas. Obstruction of the upper airways during sleep leads to repetitive episodes of disrupted airflow and consequent changes in blood oxygenation, resulting in hypoxaemia and hypercapnia. Intermittent hypoxaemia induces the production of pro-inflammatory factors and promotes metabolic dysregulation and platelet aggregation.

Local elasticity of the aorta in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Objective: Arterial elasticity is important for assessing the state of an artery. This cross-sectional study aimed to non-invasively examine stiffness parameters of the ascending aorta in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: We studied 58 patients, including 38 with T2DM and 20 controls.

Circulating Endothelial Microparticles and Aortic Stiffness in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Diabetes mellitus represents a metabolic disorder the incidence of which has been on the increase in recent years. The well-known long-term complications of this disease encompass a wide spectrum of renal, neurological and cardiovascular conditions. The aim of the study was to investigate the serum concentration of endothelial microparticles (EMPs) as well as selected noninvasive parameters of the ascending aorta stiffness calculated with echocardiography.

Obstructive sleep apnea may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Objectives: Amyloid-β 1-40 (Aβ 1-40) and amyloid-β 1-42 (Aβ 1-42) are the proteins known to be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD)-the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. Hypoxia is suspected to be one of conditions associated with Aβ plasma level increase. A common reason of hypoxia is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), characterized by recurrent episodes of apnea.