FINDRISC Modified for Latin America as a Screening Tool for Persons with Impaired Glucose Metabolism in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela.

Objective: The Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) includes anthropometric, metabolic, and lifestyle factors that predict type 2 diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to evaluate the FINDRISC modified for Latin America (LA-FINDRISC) as a screening tool for persons with impaired glucose metabolism in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela.

Methods: Subjects aged between 18 and 70 years of both sexes without known diabetes were invited to participate.

Epicardial adipose tissue thickness and type 2 diabetes risk according to the FINDRISC modified for Latin America.

Background: The Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) is a tool to predict 10-year risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and visceral adiposity is associated with higher cardio-metabolic risk. The objective of the study was to assess the relationship of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness with T2DM risk according to the FINDRISC tool.

Methods: The study was conducted in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, and included 55 subjects of whom 37 (67.

Triglycerides/High density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio as a cardiometabolic risk marker in children and adolescents from Mérida city, Venezuela.

Objective: To determine the behavior of the triglycerides/HDL-cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL) as a cardiometabolic risk marker in children and adolescents from Mérida, Venezuela.

Methods: A total of 1292 children and adolescents aged 7-18 years who attended educational institutions in the Libertador Municipality were enrolled into this study. Anthropometric measurements and blood pressure values were recorded.

Frequency and clinical and molecular aspects of familial hypercholesterolemia in an endocrinology unit in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela.

Objective: To assess the frequency and the clinical, biochemical, and molecular aspects of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) in subjects attending an endocrinology unit.

Methods: An observational, descriptive study evaluating 3,140 subjects attending the endocrinology unit of Centro Médico Orinoco in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, from 7 January 2013 to 9 December 2016. The index cases were selected using the Dutch Lipid Clinic Network criteria.

Relationship between the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC), vitamin D levels, and insulin resistance in obese subjects.

Aim: To assess the relationship between 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] blood concentrations in subjects with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) risk according to the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) modified for Latin America (LA-FINDRISC).

Methods: This study was conducted in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela. Eighty two women and 20 men (53 obese and 49 nonobese), with an average age of 42.

Epicardial adipose tissue thickness in children and adolescents with cardiometabolic risk factors.

Objective: To assess the relationship of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness with cardiometabolic risk factors (CRFs) in children and adolescents.

Methods: Seventy-seven subjects of both sexes aged 7-18 years were selected. Medical history, clinical parameters, and glucose, insulin, and lipid levels were collected.

[Overweight-obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescents from Merida city, Venezuela].

To establish the prevalence of overweight-obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors (CRF) (sedentary lifestyle, dyslipidemia, hypertension and impaired carbohydrate metabolism) in children and adolescents in the city of Mérida, Venezuela, we studied 922 children and adolescents from 9 to 18 years of age, from different educational institutions. Anthropometric measurements and arterial blood pressure were recorded. Body mass index was calculated.

Effect of sitagliptin on epicardial fat thickness in subjects with type 2 diabetes and obesity: a pilot study.

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of sitagliptin addition on the epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus inadequately controlled on metformin monotherapy. This was a 24-week interventional pilot study in 26 consecutive type 2 diabetic patients, 14 females and 12 males average age of 43.8 ± 9.

Epicardial fat thickness as cardiovascular risk factor and therapeutic target in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biological and nonbiological therapies.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness may act as a therapeutic target during treatments with drugs modulating the adipose tissue. We evaluate EAT thickness in RA patients treated with biological and nonbiological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

[Psychological resistance to use insulin in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients from Venezuela].

The psychological resistance to use insulin (PIR) is a condition where the patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) refuses to use insulin. Our objective was to determine the frequency of PIR in a Venezuelan population and their beliefs regarding insulin and current medication. In several states of Venezuela, from January to March 2013, 254 patients with T2DM, over 18 years old and naive to insulin treatment were interviewed.

Epicardial adipose tissue thickness and its association with adiponectin in metabolic syndrome patients from Mérida, Venezuela.

Objective: To study the relationship between epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness and plasma levels of adiponectin in Venezuelan patients.

Subjects And Methods: Thirty-one patients diagnosed with metabolic syndrome (study group) and 27 controls were selected and tested for glycemia, lipids, and adiponectin. EAT thickness, ejection fraction, diastolic function, left ventricular mass (LVM), and left atrial volume (LAV) were determined by transthoracic echocardiography.

[Cut-off point of epicardial adipose tissue thickness for predicting metabolic syndrome in Venezuelan population].

Objective: To define an echocardiographically-assessed cut-off point for epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness associated to metabolic syndrome (MS) components in Venezuelan subjects.

Methods: Fifty-two subjects aged 20-65 years diagnosed with MS according to International Diabetes Federation criteria and 45 sex- and age-matched controls were selected. Blood glucose and plasma lipids were tested; EAT thickness and left ventricular mass were measured by echocardiography.

Reference values of waist circumference and waist/hip ratio in children and adolescents of Mérida, Venezuela: comparison with international references.

Objective: To collect regional reference values of waist circumference (WC), and waist/hip ratio (WHR) in children and adolescents from Merida, Venezuela, and to compare them to international references.

Subjects And Methods: A total of 919 students aged 9-17 years from public and private educational establishments were assessed. Weight, height, WC, and WHR were measured.

[Epicardial adipose tissue and its association to plasma adrenomedullin levels in patients with metabolic syndrome].

Objective: To assess the association between epicardial adipose tissue thickness (EAT) and plasma adrenomedullin plasma levels in patients with metabolic syndrome (MS).

Methods: Twenty-one patients (12 females and 9 males) with MS according to the International Diabetes Federation guidelines, aged 22-58 years, were enrolled into the study and compared to 19 age-matched control subjects without MS. Plasma glucose, lipid, and adrenomedullin levels were assessed.

Limited Weight Loss or Simply No Weight Gain following Lifestyle-Only Intervention Tends to Redistribute Body Fat, to Decrease Lipid Concentrations, and to Improve Parameters of Insulin Sensitivity in Obese Children.

Objectives. To investigate whether lifestyle-only intervention in obese children who maintain or lose a modest amount of weight redistributes parameters of body composition and reverses metabolic abnormalities. Study Design.

GHR and VDR genes do not contribute to the growth hormone (GH) response in GH deficient and Turner syndrome patients.

We have prospectively assessed the influence of GHR and VDR gene polymorphisms on the response to rhGH therapy in Venezuelan children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD, n=28) and Turner syndrome (TS, n=25). Clinical data during rhGH treatment were compared in GH and TS patients with different genotypes. PCR amplifications were performed to obtain the genotype frequencies of the polymorphisms.

[Obesity in schoolchildren from Merida, Venezuela: association with cardiovascular risk factors].

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of obesity and associated cardiovascular risk factors in schoolchildren in our city, given the influence of these factors on the development of atherosclerosis.

Methods: We studied a representative sample of second grade students composed of 370 children aged 7.82+/-0.

Circulating levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and soluble markers of vascular endothelial cell activation in growth hormone-deficient adolescents.

Background/aims: Significant endothelial dysfunction as determined by lower flow-mediated vasodilation of the brachial artery was recently reported by us in growth hormone-deficient (GHD) adolescents. The circulating concentrations of markers of vascular endothelial cell and platelet activation and their relationship to inflammatory markers have not been previously evaluated in this group of patients.

Objective: To assess the relationship between circulating levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) and soluble markers of vascular endothelial cell activation in GHD adolescents.

Is testosterone and estrogen priming prior to clonidine useful in the evaluation of the growth hormone status of short peripubertal children?

Aim: To determine the usefulness of priming with gonadal steroids prior to growth hormone (GH) stimulation with clonidine in the evaluation of the GH status of short peripubertal children.

Children And Methods: Thirty-nine children, eight females and 31 males, were studied, with a mean chronological age of 12.37 +/- 2.

The triglyceride/HDL-cholesterol ratio as a marker of cardiovascular risk in obese children; association with traditional and emergent risk factors.

Objectives: To determine the presence of traditional and emergent cardiovascular risk factors and to evaluate the triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (Tg/HDL-C) ratio as a marker for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome (MS) in obese children.

Material And Methods: Sixty-seven prepubertal children of both sexes, between the ages of 6 and 12 yr, 20 normal-weight children, 18 overweight, and 29 obese subjects, were studied. Anthropometric measures, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), and fat mass (FM), were measured.

Growth hormone deficiency, low levels of adiponectin, and unfavorable plasma lipid and lipoproteins.

Objective: To examine the impact of adolescent growth hormone deficiency (GHD) on circulating adiponectin levels and the relation between adiponectin, fasting insulin, plasma lipid, and lipoprotein levels.

Study Design: Twelve children with GHD on GH treatment with a chronological age (CA) of 14.4 +/- 2.

Peripheral inflammatory and fibrinolytic markers in adolescents with growth hormone deficiency: relation to postprandial dyslipidemia.

Objective: To determine whether peripheral inflammatory and fibrinolytic markers are elevated in growth hormone-deficient (GHD) adolescents and associated with increased postprandial lipoproteins.

Study Design: Fifteen GHD children on GH treatment with a chronologic age of 12.7 +/- 2.

Cardiovascular risk of young growth-hormone-deficient adolescents. Differences in growth-hormone-treated and untreated patients.

Objective: To determine whether postprandial lipids, coagulation factors and homocysteine levels are abnormal in young growth hormone (GH)-deficient (GHD) adolescents.

Methods: Fifteen GHD adolescents on GH replacement were studied. Ten untreated GHD adolescents and 15 healthy subjects served as controls.