Objective. Leptin is a highly hydrophilic protein that circulates in plasma as a 16-kDa protein. It is produced in adipose tissue and also recently described to be synthesized by placental tissue. Plasma concentration of leptin is positively correlated to body fat mass, and administration of recombinant leptin to mice indicates that leptin participates in the regulation of food intake and energ...

Featured Article: Considine RV, Sinha MK, Heiman ML, Kriauciunas A, Stephens TW, Nyce MR, et al. Serum immunoreactive-leptin concentrations in normal-weight and obese humans. N Engl J Med 1996;334:292–5. This study was done at a very exciting time in the field of obesity research. Jeffrey Friedman’s group had published the landmark report in December 1994 that described the cloning of the Lep (...

To the Editor: The adipocyte secreted protein, adiponectin, is of particular interest in metabolic and vascular disease because of its close associations with insulin sensitivity and obesity.1 Lower levels of adiponectin are associated with later development of type 2 diabetes.2 Recent observations from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study3 suggest that lower adiponectin concentrations migh...

To the Editor: Excess cardiovascular risk has been observed in HIV-infected patients, driven by traditional risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, diabetes, and aging, although therapy-induced hyperlipidemia and HIV-induced proinflammatory state and immune activation seem to play a role. A recent report from the Data Collection on Adverse Events of AntiHIV Drugs (DAD) Study, one of the lar...

Purpose: Adipocytes represent one of the most abundant constituents of the mammary gland. They are essential for mammary tumor growth and survival. Metabolically, one of the more important fat-derived factors (“adipokines”) is adiponectin (APN). Serum concentrations of APN negatively correlate with body mass index and insulin resistance. To explore the association of APN with breast cancer and ...

The etiology of NIDDM is complex and development is manifested by initial insulin resistance coupled with elevated insulin levels in the early diabetic state with concomitant increases in circulating levels of glucose and triglycerides. This is followed by a decline in insulin levels due to pancreatic exhaustion. Our results show that administration of DHEA-PC, a conjugate of dehydroepiandroste...

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the effects of fenofibrate (160 mg/d) on fasting and postprandial lipoproteins, oxidized fatty acids, and inflammatory mediators in subjects with hypertriglyceridemia and the metabolic syndrome. Research Design and Methods Fifty-nine subjects with fasting hypertriglyceridemia (≥1.7 mmol/L and <6.9 mmol/L) and two or more of the Adult Treatment P...

Introduction: Islet transplantation has become a promising treatment for type I diabetes mellitus due to recent success since the development of the Edmonton Protocol. Islet culture prior to transplantation is standard practice in several clinical islet programs. High-density islet culture is desirable because it reduces space and handling requirements during culture, but it exacerbates oxygen ...

Nicotine elicited membrane depolarization, elevation of intracellular calcium, rubidium efflux, and release of insulin from mouse -TC6 insulinoma cells. Such responses were blocked by the nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine but not by the muscarinic antagonist atropine. Neither the selective 4 2 antagonist dihydro-erythroidine nor the selective 7 antagonist methyllycaconitine significantly blocke...

Macrolide antibiotics possess immunomodulatory/anti-inflammatory properties. These properties are considered fundamental for the efficacy of macrolide antibiotics in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases like diffuse panbronchiolitis and cystic fibrosis. However, the molecular mechanisms and cellular targets of anti-inflammatory/immunomodulatory macrolide activity are still not fully u...