Fasting insulinemia as biomarker of illness relapse in patients with severe mental illness?

Severe Mental Illness (SMI) is often associated with metabolic alteration and/or metabolic syndrome, which may determine an increased mortality due to a further increased cardiovascular risk. The relationship with metabolic syndrome is often bidirectional, resulting in a pathoplastic effect of these dysmetabolisms. Among the several hormones involved, insulin appears to play a key role, albeit not entirely clear.

Role of the ubiquitin-proteasome system in carotid plaque instability in diabetic patients.

In order to define the role of the ubiquitin-proteasome system in atherosclerotic plaque rupture in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), we evaluated the amount of this system, of the main inflammatory cells, of the collagen content and some indexes indicative of oxidative stress in the carotid plaques of both diabetic and non-diabetic asymptomatic patients. Plaques were obtained from 31 type 2 diabetic and 27 non-diabetic patients undergoing endoterectomy. Both were examined for macrophages, T-lymphocytes, ubiquitin/proteasome 20S activity, NFkB, IkB-b, nitrotyrosine, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and collagen.

Index of myocardial performance after early phase of myocardial infarction in relation to its location.

To define the degree of heart derangement in recent myocardial infarction (MI) occurring in different wall locations of myocardium, we echocardiographically evaluated left ventricular volumes, ejection fraction, wall-motion score index, isovolumetric contraction and relaxation time, ejection time, and index of myocardial performance in 74 patients with MI. Participants were chosen among the patients with MI of comparable extent and interesting unlike zones of myocardial walls. Mean values of evaluated left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and ejection fraction were nearly alike in all patients, whereas wall-motion score index and index of myocardial performance were cleary prolonged in those with anterior MI in comparison with the values recorded in patients with lateral or inferior MI.