A1C but Not Serum Glycated Albumin Is Elevated in Late Pregnancy Owing to Iron Deficiency

OBJECTIVE—A1C levels have been shown to be elevated in relation to glycemia in late pregnancy, although the precise mechanisms remain undetermined. We hypothesized that iron deficiency is involved in the A1C increase in late pregnancy

Vascular endothelial growth factor: an angiogenic factor reflecting airway inflammation in healthy smokers and in patients with bronchitis type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients with bronchitis type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have raised vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in induced sputum. This has been associated with the pathogenesis of COPD through apoptotic and oxidative stress mechanisms. Since, chronic airway inflammation is an important pathological feature of COPD mainly initiated by cigarette smoking, aim of this study was to assess smoking as a potential cause of raised airway VEGF levels in bronchitis type COPD and to test the association between VEGF levels in induced sputum and airway inflammation in these patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>14 current smokers with bronchitis type COPD, 17 asymptomatic current smokers with normal spirometry and 16 non-smokers were included in the study. VEGF, IL-8, and TNF-α levels in induced sputum were measured and the correlations between these markers, as well as between VEGF levels and pulmonary function were assessed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The median concentrations of VEGF, IL-8, and TNF-α were significantly higher in induced sputum of COPD patients (1,070 pg/ml, 5.6 ng/ml and 50 pg/ml, respectively) compared to nonsmokers (260 pg/ml, 0.73 ng/ml, and 15.4 pg/ml, respectively, p < 0.05) and asymptomatic smokers (421 pg/ml, 1.27 ng/ml, p < 0.05, and 18.6 pg/ml, p > 0.05, respectively). Significant correlations were found between VEGF levels and pack years (r = 0.56, p = 0.046), IL-8 (r = 0.64, p = 0.026) and TNF-α (r = 0.62, p = 0.031) levels both in asymptomatic and COPD smokers (r = 0.66, p = 0.027, r = 0.67, p = 0.023, and r = 0.82, p = 0.002, respectively). No correlation was found between VEGF levels in sputum and pulmonary function parameters.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>VEGF levels are raised in the airways of both asymptomatic and COPD smokers. The close correlation observed between VEGF levels in the airways and markers of airway inflammation in healthy smokers and in smokers with bronchitis type of COPD is suggestive of VEGF as a marker reflecting the inflammatory process that occurs in smoking subjects without alveolar destruction.</p

Vaccination against GIP for the Treatment of Obesity

BACKGROUND: According to the WHO, more than 1 billion people worldwide are overweight and at risk of developing chronic illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and stroke. Current therapies show limited efficacy and are often associated with unpleasant side-effect profiles, hence there is a medical need for new therapeutic interventions in the field of obesity. Gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP, also known as glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide) has recently been postulated to link over-nutrition with obesity. In fact GIP receptor-deficient mice (GIPR(-/-)) were shown to be completely protected from diet-induced obesity. Thus, disrupting GIP signaling represents a promising novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of obesity. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In order to block GIP signaling we chose an active vaccination approach using GIP peptides covalently attached to virus-like particles (VLP-GIP). Vaccination of mice with VLP-GIP induced high titers of specific antibodies and efficiently reduced body weight gain in animals fed a high fat diet. The reduction in body weight gain could be attributed to reduced accumulation of fat. Moreover, increased weight loss was observed in obese mice vaccinated with VLP-GIP. Importantly, despite the incretin action of GIP, VLP-GIP-treated mice did not show signs of glucose intolerance. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study shows that vaccination against GIP was safe and effective. Thus active vaccination may represent a novel, long-lasting treatment for obesity. However further preclinical safety/toxicology studies will be required before the therapeutic concept can be addressed in humans

Immunoglobulin E and Mast Cell Proteases Are Potential Risk Factors of Human Pre-Diabetes and Diabetes Mellitus

Recent studies have suggested that mast-cell activation and inflammation are important in obesity and diabetes. Plasma levels of mast cell proteases and the mast cell activator immunoglobulin E (IgE) may serve as novel inflammatory markers that associate with the risk of pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus. = 0.026) adjustment for common diabetes risk factors.Both IgE and chymase associate with diabetes status. While IgE and hs-CRP are individual risk factors of pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus, interactions of IgE with hs-CRP or with chymase further increased the risk of pre-diabetes and diabetes mellitus

Influence of domain wall structure on pinning characteristics with self-induced anisotropy

Wall pinning effects with self-induced spatially varying uniaxial anisotropy in various thick films have been studied using micromagnetic simulation based on the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. In the simulation, the discretization region is in the cross section normal to the film plane. It is clarified that the wall structure is strongly related to pinning characteristics. Depinning fields of the wall having a flux-closure asymmetric vortex (C-shaped wall) are different in the wall movement directions due to the asymmetric wall structure. On the other hand, depinning fields of the wall with two vortices (S-shaped wall) which have a symmetric structure do not depend on the wall movement direction. Depinning fields for the S-shaped wall are different from both depinning fields for the C-shaped wall. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics