In this issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Awan and coworkers1 describe the study of 25 homozygous familial hypercholesterolemic (FH) patients aged 5 to 54 years. Eighteen of the patients had aortic calcification scores 1000. The inference of this study is a strong linkage between homozygous FH and premature aortic calcification. Bazan et al2 have recently described th...

This study analyzed the effect of regular Taekwondo training for 16 weeks on physical fitness and growth index depending on different IGF-1 gene polymorphisms. The subjects of the study were 44 male students who were 8 year years old. The IGF-1 gene showed the highest frequency of 18 CA repeat (190 bp) in 50% of subjects, and was found in the homozygote (n=11), heterozygote (n=22) and non-carri...

OBJECTIVES To elucidate the gene frequency of TNFB Ncol polymorphism and its association with HLA class II antigen in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) in Korea. METHODS We investigated the gene frequency of the TNFB alleles using DNA obtained from peripheral mononuclar cells in 141 healthy controls and in 58 patients with SLE. The polymorphisms of TNFB gene (735 bp) were studie...

BACKGROUND Patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (hmzFH) attributable to LDL receptor gene mutations have shown a remarkable increase in survival over the last 20 years. Early onset coronary heart disease (CHD) and calcific aortic valve stenosis are the major complications of this disorder. We now report extensive premature calcification of the aorta in patients with hmzFH. M...

It has been assumed that in piebald lethal mice that develop megacolon, impaired colonic motor activity is restricted to the aganglionic distal colon. Peristaltic mechanical recordings, immunohistochemistry, and quantitative PCR were used to investigate whether regions of the colon, other than the aganglionic segment, may also show anatomical modifications and dysfunctional colonic motor activi...