The relationship between serum lipid levels, high blood pressure and obesity in children

Objective: Oxidative stress in obese children may lead in adulthood serious conditions such as coronary heart diseases or type 2 diabetes mellitus. In childhood oxidative stress is associated with insulin resistance or extreme obesity. In this study, we aimed to evaluate oxidative stress status in moderately obese children without insulin resistance. Methods: A total of 38 obese children (21 male, 17 female) without insulin resistance, mean aged 9.4±3.8 years) and 51 normal weight children (25 male, 26 female) as the control group, mean aged 9.3±3.9 years) were enrolled to the study. Total oxidative status (TOS), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were measured and oxidative stress index (OSI) was calculated. Results: The results reveal that obese children had lower TAC than normal weight children (2,27±0,28 vs. 2.76±0.35 mmol Trolox Eq./L; p<0,001). There was no statistical difference between obese and control groups regarding TOS (6,08±3,63 vs 5.25±4.16 μmol H2O2 Eq./L; p=0.333). OSI was higher in obese group (2.65±1.52 vs 1.92±1.56; p=0.029) Conclusion: Balance between oxidant and antioxidant system is disrupted due to the reduced TAC even in moderately obese children without insulin resistance. Further studies should also be performed to evaluate the beneficial effects of dietary intake of antioxidants in these children

The relationship between serum lipid levels, high blood pressure and obesity in children

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine serum lipid, cholesterol and obesity levels in healthy children, and then to explore the relationships between these factors. Methods: The sample group consisted of 103 students at Gelik Elementary School in Zonguldak, Turkey who was willing to participate in the study, had not been medically diagnosed with a chronic ailment, and were not taking regular medications. Results: When the students' mean BMI (Body Mass Index )measurements were considered, it was found that mean BMI at 13 years of age (21.03 ± 0.23) was higher than at 14 years (20.05 ± 0.20) and that this difference was strongly significant (p=0.002). When the relationships between the students' height, weight, BMI, blood pressure, FBS (Fasting Blood Sugar), cholesterol, LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein), HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) measurements were considered, it was seen that there was a positive significant relationship between height-weight (r=0.472; p<0.001), height-blood pressure (r=0.432; p<0.001), and height-FBS (r=0.332; p=0.001). Conclusions: The conclusion drawn was that monitoring blood pressure, cholesterol, LDL and HDL levels in childhood medical examinations is not only important in terms of identifying obesity, but also in identifying nutritional mistakes and deficiencies at an early stage

Multiple sclerosis: Could it be an epigenetic disease?

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most frequent autoimmune, inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. It is believed to be a multifactorial and multigenic disease. Despite numerous efforts to find a locus with hypothesis-free whole genome screens, no repeatable locus other than HLA could be found. Genomic screens use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based methods to find a difference between patients and controls. This method is insensitive to differences other than disparities in the DNA sequence. The negative results of these efforts suggest that other mechanisms may be involved in MS pathophysiology. Epigenetics denotes all heritable mechanisms which result in a transcriptional difference without a change in the DNA sequence. In the last decade, there have been several findings implying the significance of epigenetic modifications as causal factors for multifactorial diseases like MS. Epigenetic factors might be affecting MS induction and clinical severity by modulating such diverse biological processes as X chromosome inactivation, viral infections, myelin protein production and Th1 type immune response differentiation. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Autoimmune Diseases Associated with Epilepsy

Involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) during the course of systemic autoimmune diseases is not rare. Connective tissue disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis, Behcet's disease; granulomatous disorders such as sarcoidosis, granulomatous angitis; autoimmune bowel disorders such as inflammatory bowel and Celiac diseases; thyroid disorders such as Hashimoto and Graves diseases are best examples of the autoimmune diseases in this category. Epileptic seizures may be observed in patients with and without any obvious lesions in these disorders. In this review, we will summarize patterns of neurological involvement in systemic autoimmune diseases associated with epilepsy