Increases in IL-8 (an inflammatory angiogenic mediator) and VEGF (a regulatory mediator of cellular proliferation and permeability) may be related to development of proliferative vitreoretinopathy.

Aim: To determine the prevalence of vitamin D hypovitaminosis among obese and overweight schoolchildren.Design: A cross−sectional population based sample.Methods: In a cross−sectional study, 301 students (177 girls and 124 boys) aged 11−19 years were selected by multistage stratified sampling design. Subjects were classified according to their body mass index as obese, overweight and normal. Serum 25−hydroxyvitamin D (25−OHD), intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were measured in late winter months. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as a 25−OHD 20 ng/ml.Results: The prevalence of hypovitaminosis D was found as 65% in all students. Vitamin D deficiency was found in 12% and insufficiency in 53% of all students. Vitamin D deficiency in female students was about two times more common than in males. In obese and overweight schoolchildren with hypovitaminosis D, serum 25−OHD levels decreased as BMI increased. There were no correlations between serum 25−OHD and ALP and iPTH levels.Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency are common in obese and overweight schoolchildren, especially in girls. Obesity could be a risk factor in terms of hypovitaminosis D in adolescents. Vitamin D supplementation should be administered particularly to adolescent girls.Conflict of interest:None declared.

Nesfatin-1 is a novel hormone synthesized in hypothalamus and several other specific organs to regulate eating habits, appetite and is thought to be related to ovarian functions. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the nesfatin-1 levels with other metabolic parameters in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition that is known to be related to both ovarian functions and obesity. Study subjects were chosen from the women attended to the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Istanbul Bilim University, Avrupa Florence Nightingale Hospital. Thirty-five healthy control subjects and 55 PCOS patients were included. Blood samples were obtained on the 3rd day of the menstrual cycle. Luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), free testosterone (FT), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), insulin, fasting blood glucose (FBG), high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides (TG), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels were measured; homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) value was calculated. The nesfatin-1 levels were measured by competitive inhibition ELISA method. Due to our results, PCOS patients were having lower nesfatin-1 levels compared to the control group and this was not seemed to be related to body mass index (BMI) levels. This is an important result to be investigated in larger study groups and is related to other metabolic markers.

Early markers are required in pathophysiological process of obesity, MS and type 2 diabetes. We aimed to clarify the usefulness of serum adipokines (adiponectin, AD and resistin) and inflammatory markers to identify obese and overweight children with MS. Three hundred and seven of 2 491 subjects aged 11-19 with BMI> or =85 centile selected with a multistage, stratified sampling were included. Their height, weight and waist circumference were measured, all subjects underwent physical examination and standard OGTT. AD, resistin and hs-CRP were measured from baseline blood sample. The mean age of subjects was 14.2+/-1.8, 57.7% was girl (n=177) and 42.3% (n=130) boy. Of the 307 subjects 40 (13%) were classified as having MS. Serum AD levels were significantly lower in boys (p=0.02), and decreased while BMI increased, but this trend was not significant (p>0.05). Although median resistin values were higher in obese than others (20, 18.5, 17 ng/ml, respectively) it was not significant (p>0.05). In obese subjects, hs-CRP levels were significantly high (0.21 mg/L) (p=0.000). All three markers in obese and overweight children with and without MS were not significant (p>0.05). Girls with MS had lower adiponectin levels than those without MS. Waist circumference had the highest sensitivity and specificity for predicting MS in ROC analysis. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.831 for WC standard error (SE) 0.033; 95% CI 0.767-0.896; p<0.0001. But the AUCs for the adiponectin, resistin, hs-CRP were not significant. In this study, we observed that adipokines or inflammatory markers have no predictive value in the diagnosis of MS. We concluded that the best marker for MS diagnosis is the measurement of waist circumference.

Recently, subfraction analysis of serum low density lipoprotein (LDL) is considered to be a better predictor of the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) compared to the other lipid parameters. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the HDL-associated Taq1B (rs708272) SNP of cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) gene on serum LDL subfractions in patients with CHD. Serum lipid levels were measured enzymatically and LDL subfraction analysis was carried out by the Lipoprint System (Quantimetrix, CA, USA). The CETP rs708272 SNP was studied in 66 healthy controls and 79 patients with CHD receiving statin therapy by the PCR-RFLP technique. The CHD patients had elevated antiatherogenic LDL-1 subfraction (p = 0.042), decreased atherogenic IDL-C subfraction (p = 0.023), and total IDL (p = 0.030) levels compared to the healthy controls. The CETP rs708272 Taq1B minor B2 allele was associated with increased levels of antiatherogenic LDL-1 (B2: 0.40 ± 0.20 vs. B1B1: 0.25 ± 0.08, p = 0.004) and large-LDL (LDL 1-2) subfractions in the CHD group (B2 allele: 0.68 ± 0.41 vs. B1B1: 0.42 ± 0.20; p < 0.05), while it was associated with reduced levels of the large-LDL subfraction in healthy subjects (B2 allele: 0.29 ± 0.14 vs. B1B1: 0.54 ± 0.24; p = 0.017). However, there was no statistically significant association between the CETP rs708272 SNP and small dense LDL subfraction (LDL 3-7) and lipoprotein levels (p > 0.05). Our findings have indicated that the CETP rs708272 SNP together with statin therapy may show a favorable effect on antiatherogenic LDL-1 and large-LDL subfractions in CHD patients with an atherogenic effect on large-LDL subfraction in healthy subjects. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the effects of the CETP variation on LDL subfraction could change in cardiometabolic events such as CHD and statin therapy.

The aim of this study is to determine the serum levels of visfatin in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and to understand its correlations with other metabolic and hormonal parameters. Thirty-seven patients with PCOS and 30 women without concomitant disease were included in this study. Serum visfatin levels were similar in patients with PCOS and control group. Visfatin levels were higher in normal weight PCOS when compared with obese PCOS, but it did not reach statistical significance. Visfatin levels correlated negatively with fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and lipoprotein-a levels in PCOS patients. CRP levels increased both in obese PCOS and in obese controls. Plasma visfatin levels had no correlation with homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance and fasting insulin levels, but the negative correlation between plasma visfatin levels and lipoprotein-a, fasting plasma glucose, TC and LDL levels may indicate a role for visfatin in cardiovascular disease independent of insulin resistance.

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Background: Rolling-circle replication (RCR) is a novel technology that has not been applied to cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing until recently. Given the cost and simplicity advantages of this technology compared to other platforms currently used in cfDNA analysis, an assessment of RCR in clinical laboratories was performed. Here, we present the first validation study from clinical laboratories utilizing RCR technology. Methods: 831 samples from spontaneously pregnant women carrying a singleton fetus, and 25 synthetic samples, were analyzed for the fetal risk of trisomy 21 (T21), trisomy 18 (T18) and trisomy 13 (T13), by three laboratories on three continents. All the screen-positive pregnancies were provided post-test genetic counseling and confirmatory diagnostic invasive testing (e.g., amniocentesis). The screen-negative pregnancies were routinely evaluated at birth for fetal aneuploidies, using newborn examinations, and any suspected aneuploidies would have been offered diagnostic testing or confirmed with karyotyping. Results: The study found rolling-circle replication to be a highly viable technology for the clinical assessment of fetal aneuploidies, with 100% sensitivity for T21 (95% CI: 82.35–100.00%); 100.00% sensitivity for T18 (71.51–100.00%); and 100.00% sensitivity for T13 analyses (66.37–100.00%). The specificities were >99% for each trisomy (99.7% (99.01–99.97%) for T21; 99.5% (98.62–99.85%) for T18; 99.7% (99.03–99.97%) for T13), along with a first-pass no-call rate of 0.93%. Conclusions: The study showed that using a rolling-circle replication-based cfDNA system for the evaluation of the common aneuploidies would provide greater accuracy and clinical utility compared to conventional biochemical screening, and it would provide comparable results to other reported cfDNA methodologies.