Microparticles: a component of various diseases.

Microparticles (MPs) are phenotypically and functionally heterogeneous population of microvesicles. Although MP formation represents a physiological phenomenon. A multitude of pathologies, including inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, atherosclerosis, and malignancies, are associated with a considerable increase in circulating MPs.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease of two ethnic groups in Kuwait: comparison of prevalence and risk factors.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of nonalcoholic hepatic steatosis (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, NAFLD) and the significance of some risk factors, such as obesity and glucose metabolism impairment, for two major ethnic groups of Kuwait: Arabs and South Asians.

Subjects And Methods: 143 adults (Arab: n = 81; South Asian: n = 62) were enrolled in the study. Anthropometric measurements including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC) and waist-to-hip ratio were performed along with abdominal ultrasonography.

Comparison of obesity and its relationship to some metabolic risk factors of atherosclerosis in Arabs and South Asians in Kuwait.

Objective: The aims of the study were to compare obesity and its association with risk factors of atherosclerosis in Arabs and South Asians in Kuwait and to define which of the anthropometric parameters is best suited for clinical purposes in general.

Subjects And Methods: Two hundred eighty adults, patients of Al-Rashid Hospital, a private general hospital in Kuwait, were enrolled in the study. Of the 280 patients, 144 were Arab and 136 were South Asian.

Diastolic blood pressure as a major determinant of tissue perfusion: potential clinical consequences.

Blood pressure measuring represents a routine investigation in general medicine. In the last decades large studies have determined average blood pressure values all around the world. Large clinical trials have shown that blood pressure reduction irrespective of the used type of therapeutic intervention reduces mortality.

[The complexity of interactions of the tumour growth process].

It was believed for rather a long time that the only components of tumour tissue are transformed cells characterised by hyper-proliferation, invasivity and immortalisation. Therapeutic strategies thus focused on autonomous proliferation and tumour cell survival. These result from oncogene activation and inactivation of tumour-suppressor genes.