Nutritional characteristics of a rural Southern Italy population: the Ventimiglia di Sicilia Project.

Objective: Knowledge of alimentary habits among populations permits a better definition of appropriate public health interventions. We designed the epidemiological project "Ventimiglia di Sicilia" to characterize the risk profile in a rural village with low total cholesterol levels and low early cardiovascular mortality but with a large prevalence of overweight and obesity, which previously have been significantly associated with total mortality.

Methods: 488 individuals of age 20 to 69 years were included in the dietary survey conducted by a seven-day food record.

Pravastatin reduces carotid intima-media thickness progression in an asymptomatic hypercholesterolemic mediterranean population: the Carotid Atherosclerosis Italian Ultrasound Study.

Purpose: The Carotid Atherosclerosis Italian Ultrasound Study (CAIUS) was performed to test the effects of lipid lowering on the progression of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in 305 asymptomatic patients from a Mediterranean country.

Patients And Methods: Eligibility included hypercholesterolemia (baseline means: low-density lipoprotein [LDL] = 4.68 mmol/L, high-density lipoprotein [HDL] = 1.

Association of serum C3 levels with the risk of myocardial infarction.

Purpose: Serum complement and IgA levels have been found to be retrospectively associated with the presence of diffuse atherosclerosis. This study was performed to assess whether serum immunoglobulins and complement components are predictive of future ischemic events.

Patients And Methods: The baseline values of IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, and C4 were measured in the sera from a cohort of 860 inhabitants of the town of Brisighella, Italy.

[Arterial hypertension in relation to life style and other cardiovascular risk factors. Epidemiologic study of a population of blood donors. Project AVIS].

The objectives of this research were to determine the prevalence of essential and borderline hypertension in a population of blood donors and their families and to determine if there is a correlation between blood pressure and lifestyle and/or other cardiovascular risk factors. The study was comprised of 1976 individuals, of whom 1290 were men and 686 were women, aged 18-65 years. The prevalence of essential hypertension was 15.

Exogenous CoQ10 preserves plasma ubiquinone levels in patients treated with 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors.

Ubiquinone is a carrier of the mitochondrial respiratory chain which regulates oxidative phosphorylation: it also acts as a membrane stabilizer preventing lipid peroxidation. In man the quinone ring originates from tyrosine, while the formation of the polyisoprenoid lateral chain starts from acetyl CoA and proceeds through mevalonate and isopentenylpyrophosphate; this biosynthetic pathway is the same as the cholesterol one. We therefore performed this study to evaluate whether statins (hypocholesterolemic drugs that inhibit 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase) modify blood levels of ubiquinone.