Prevalence and risk factors accounting for true silent myocardial ischemia: a pilot case-control study comparing type 2 diabetic with non-diabetic control subjects.

Background: Given the elevated risk of cardiovascular events and the higher prevalence of silent coronary artery disease (CAD) in diabetic versus non-diabetic patients, the need to screen asymptomatic diabetic patients for CAD assumes increasing importance. The aims of the study were to assess prospectively the prevalence and risk factor predictors of true silent myocardial ischemia (myocardial perfusion defects in the absence of both angina and ST-segment depression) in asymptomatic type 2 diabetic patients.

Methods: Stress myocardial perfusion gated SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) was carried out in 41 type 2 diabetic patients without history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 41 nondiabetic patients matched by age and gender.

Serum markers of vascular inflammation in dyslipemia.

Atherosclerosis is widely recognized as an inflammatory disease because systemic and local inflammatory events mediate all phases of plaque development and progression. Basic and clinical studies have focused on identifying potentially useful markers of inflammation. In this article, we review the inflammatory pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, and highlight recent results of several of the more promising markers of inflammation for cardiovascular risk assessment.

[Factors influencing CRP levels in the diabetic population].

Background And Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the factors influencing CRP serum levels in the diabetic population.

Patients And Method: Eighty-six patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were prospectively included. The following variables were considered: age, gender, smoking habit, body mass index (BMI), glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides, albumin excretion rate, CRP and E-selectin.

Usefulness of homeostasis model assessment for identifying subjects at risk for hypoglycemia failure during the insulin hypoglycemia test.

One of the main problems of the insulin hypoglycemia test (IHT) is the failure to achieve an adequate hypoglycemia (blood glucose, <45 mg/dl) with the standard dose of insulin used. The aim of the study was to identify by means of homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) the subjects at risk for hypoglycemia failure during IHT. For this purpose 32 patients in whom an IHT was performed were prospectively included.

Biological variation of lipoprotein(a) in a diabetic population. Analysis of the causes and clinical implications.

The aims of the present study were to evaluate the biological variability of lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) in diabetic patients and to investigate the biological sources of this variability. Lp(a) was measured by ELISA in four serum specimens collected in 3-month intervals from 70 patients. The other parameters analyzed were: total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides, glucose, HbA and albumin excretion rate.