Adiponectin concentration data improve the estimation of atherosclerotic risk in normal and in overweight subjects.

Background: The combinations of adipokines and body mass parameters to estimate carotid atherosclerotic disease have not been completely delineated.

Objective: To test the combinations of well-established, easily accessible body mass indices and circulating biomarkers to identify increased carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in a primary prevention setting.

Design And Patients: In a cross-sectional analysis of 339 asymptomatic individuals with no history of cardiovascular events, inflammatory and insulin sensitivity biomarkers as well as adipokine levels were measured and combined with body mass parameters to evaluate the best marker for increased cIMT.

Failure of estrogen to protect the substantia nigra pars compacta of female rats from lesion induced by 6-hydroxydopamine.

The immunostaining for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) after intranigral infusion of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA, 6 microg/side) was analyzed in ovariectomized adult female Wistar rats. Estrogen replacement for 52 days (400-microg 17-beta-estradiol capsules) did not prevent the loss of TH-immunoreactive cells induced by 6-OHDA in the SNpc. This result indicates that the neuroprotective effect of dopaminergic mesencephalic cells is not observed with long-term estrogen replacement.