Arya Atherosclerosis
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Spring 2008

Diabetesmellitus is the most important endocrine disease in the world. Scientists recommend consumption of low glycemic index foods for prevention and control of diabetess. This study was designed to test the effects of cooked lentil as a low glycemic index (LGI) food on blood glucose and lipid profile among type 2 diabetic patients.In a randomized cross-over clinical trial, 30 individuals with type 2 diabetes were randomly divided into 2 groups (A and B). At the 1st step group A followed the normal diet and group B followed normal diet plus 50gm cooked lentil and 6gm canula oil substitute of 30gm bread and 20gm cheese. After 6 weeks these two groups stopped their diets and put on wash out period for 3 weeks and later the diets were switched between them and continued for another 6-week period. Anthropometric measurements, dietary intakes, serum lipids and glucose levels were determined at the beginning and the end of each period. Data was analyzed by Food Processor II and SPSS-13 software. BMI, LDL_C, HDL_C, TG and serum Fructozamine were not significantly influenced by treatment. But Total cholesterol and fasting blood glucose decreased significantly (P<0.05). Cooked lentil consumption as a LGI food in breakfast can control FBS and serum total cholesterol. It might be a good regimen for improving glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients.

Inflammation is now recognized to play an important role at all stages of the atherogenic process that are precursors of MI. hs-CRP is one of this markers of inflammation and Statins have both lipid lowering and anti inflammatory effects and it is proposed that aggressive statins treatment can cause lower serum CRP levels. In this study, we compared intensive and moderate atorvastatin treatment effects on mean serum CRP reduction. This study is a double-blind clinical trial. Some persons who were up 21 years old and recently suffer non-ST elevation MI during 24 hours and went to the emergency department of feiz hospital and/or chamran hospital (at Isfahan) and were confined to bed in the CCU were entered in study. Total patients are 50 and they are divided to two equal groups: A-25 patients under treatment with 80 mg Atorvastatin B-25 patients under treatment with 20 mg Atorvastatin. The examinations hs-CRP and lipid profile were done at admission to CCU, discharge from hospital and two months after treatments and results compared in two groups.According to given results, it was specified that in group treated with 80 mg atorvastatin 12 patients (%48) were males and 9 patients (%52) were females and mean age was 60.1±13.4 years. In group treated with 20mg atorvastatin, 16 patients (%64) were males and 9 patients (%36) were males and mean age was 59.6±11.2 years. In group treated with 80mg atorvastatin mean CRP at CCU admission (baseline), discharge and two months latter was 7±5.5, 5.3±4.1 and 2.3±4.3 respectively and in group treated with 20mg atorvastatin was 7.1±8.3, 5.7±7.4 and 3.5±5.1 respectively.Mean serum LDL in patients before and after treatment in group treated with 80 mg atorvastatin was 134.2±33.2 and 117.5±31.9 and in group treated with 20 mg atorvastatin was 141.07±33.4 and 126.4±32.5.Mean serum CRP decreased in both groups after treatment but mean CRP decreased to lower levels in patients treated with 80mg atorvastatin either at discharge from hospital (p=0/32) or two months after treatment(p=0/02) compared patients treated with 20mg atorvastatin and this difference between two groups was more significant two months after treatment than at discharge Also serum LDL was decrease in both groups after treatment but no meaningful difference was detected (p=0/77). With Pearson correlation there was correlation between the percent reductions in LDL cholesterol and in CRP levels only for the total patients (P<0.001), not for the high dose atorvastatin group alone or the low dose atorvastatin group alone. (P>0/05) high dose statins cause lower serum CRP levels and their effect on lowering CRP is separated from their lipid lowering effects and is due to their anti inflammatory effects.

Prospective studies confirm that microalbuminuria is predictive, independent of classical risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and is associated with all-cause mortality in patients with diabetes or hypertension and in the general population. However, there is few data linking angiographic severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) to microalbuninuria (MA). We examined coronary angiograms for extent of severe CAD (luminal narrowing 50%) in patients without Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and general population Our study consisted of 153 patients undergoing coronary angiography in Hazrat Fatemeh hospital in Iran (M/F 80/73, mean age 57 ± 11 y). Urine albumin excretion was meas-ured in 24h urine samples by immune precipitation technique. Age-sex, distribution of coronary risk factors and MA were compared between patients with and without CAD. 70.5% (108) of patients had CAD and 29.4% (45) had no coronary lesion. MA was detected in 62.9% of patients with CAD and 8.8% of those without coronary artery lesion (P < 0.05). The presence of 1 or 2 vessels CAD showed a linear increase from group to group without microalbuminuria (P < 0.05). Patients with MA have more severe angiographic CAD compared to those with-out MA. This relation is independent of other risk factors.

Both high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and spiral computed tomo-graphy coronary artery calcium score (CCS) are valid markers of cardiovascular risk. It is un-known whether hs-CRP is a marker of atherosclerotic burden or whether it reflects a process (eg, inflammatory fibrous cap degradation) leading to acute coronary events.METHOD AND MATERIALS: I n a cross-sectional study, we studied association between hs-CRP and coronary calcium score in 143 patients that were candidate for coronary artery bypass graft-ing (CABG). In our study, we found no significant association between hs-CRP and CCS in bivari-ants (P = 0.162) and multivariable (P = 0.062) analysis but in patients that didn’t take statins, this association was significant and positive in bivariant (P = 0.001) but in multivariant analysis this association was negative and significant (P = 0.008). hs-CRP was not associated with CCS. The relation between CRP and clinical events might not be related to atherosclerotic burden. Markers of inflammation, like CRP, and indices of atherosclerosis, such as CAC, are likely to provide distinct information regarding car-diovascular risk.

The most important factor in mortality and morbidity and disability in most world countries is cardiovascular disease. Preventable risk factors include smoking, hyperlipi-demia, hypertension, sedentary life and obesity. Unfortunately, in these eras, obesity is an im-portant health challenge. We assessed the trend of obesity in the southern Iran community. Two cross-sectional community-based studies in 2002 and 2006 in 1% of commu-nity aged over 18 years residing in southern Iran were performed. City population was selected using cluster-based sampling. The questionnaires were filled by trained interviewers who went on house visits and obtained variables including age, sex, weight and height using standard measurements. Findings were divided according to WHO criteria as low-weight, normal-weight, overweight and extreme obesity, and morbid obesity; data were analyzed using descriptive sta-tistics and SPSSS software. The population studied in 2002 and 2006 numbered 1500 (956 women and 544 men) and 1329 (943 women and 386 men), respectively. Body mass index in 2002 and 2006 was 24.29±10.9 and 28.24± 4.3 kg/m2, respectively which is statistically significant (P<0.5). De-spite the decrease in absolute obesity of the community, the population is faced with statistically significant obesity. Multiple studies have shown the relation between sedentary life and weight gain and loss of health. In comparison with studies in different countries, obesity in south of Iran is alarming, especially as number of overweight women was twice that of men.