permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. When platelets are activated, they increase in size and change from a quiescent disc to a swollen sphere. Large platelets are more reactive and likely aggregate more than small ones. 1 Mean platelet volume (MPV), an indicator of platelet size and activation , has ...

The effect of the anti-hypertensive drug zofenopril on metabolic parameters in patients with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) is currently unknown. The present study was conducted in order to evaluate whether zofenopril affects parameters involved in the atherosclerotic process. This open-label intervention study included 60 adult patients with essential hypertension that additionally had 2 or mor...

Familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCH) is a common genetic lipid disorder with a frequency of 1-2% in the population. In addition to the hypercholesterolemia and/or hypertriglyceridemia that affected individuals exhibit, small, dense LDL particles and decreased HDL-cholesterol levels are traits frequently associated with FCH. Recently, we reported that families with FCH and families enriched fo...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW This article aims at reviewing the recent findings that have been made concerning the crosstalk of carbohydrate metabolism with the generation of small, dense low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles, which are known to be associated with an adverse cardiovascular risk profile. RECENT FINDINGS Studies conducted during the past few years have quite unanimously shown that the q...

BACKGROUND Dyslipidemia is common in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) but its prevalence in different PCOS phenotypes is still largely unknown. METHODS We measured plasma lipids and lipoproteins in 35 anovulatory PCOS (age: 25 +/- 6 years, BMI: 28 +/- 6 kg/m(2)), 15 ovulatory PCOS (age: 30 +/- 6 years, BMI: 25 +/- 3 kg/m(2)) and 27 healthy women (controls) age- and BMI-matched with...

The density distribution of electronegative LDL [LDL(-)], a cytotoxic and inflammatory fraction of LDL present in plasma, was studied in 10 normolipemic (NL), 6 FH, and 11 hypertriglyceridemic (HTG) subjects. Six LDL subclasses of increased density (LDL1 to LDL6) were isolated by density-gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU). NL and FH subjects showed prevalence of light LDL, whereas HTG subjects ...