C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels in overweight and healthy adults.

This study aimed to 1) compare levels of high sensitivity c-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) between overweight Thais and apparently healthy controls, and 2) investigate the association between serum hs-CRP, IL-6, and TNF-alpha levels and other biochemical parameters. A total of 180 health-conscious adults aged 25-60 years, who resided in Bangkok, participated in this study. No significant difference was found in age and sex between the overweight subjects and controls. Serum levels of hs-CRP, IL-6, TNF-alpha, glucose, lipid profile, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC) and waist hip ratio (WHR) were determined in these volunteers. The mean levels of white blood cells (WBC), uric acid, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and hs-CRP were significantly higher in the overweight subjects than those in the controls, whereas high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) values were significantly higher in the controls than the overweight subjects (p < 0.05). Hs-CRP levels were significantly positively correlated with levels of TG, BMI, WC, HC and WHR. HDL-C levels were significantly negative correlated with hs-CRP levels. In conclusion, the prevalence of elevated serum hs-CRP levels was higher in overweight subjects than controls. However, more data in larger and other population groups are needed to confirm this study.

Plasma lipid peroxide and antioxidant levels in diabetic patients.

The present study was to investigate the levels of plasma lipid peroxide products including malondialdehyde (MDA) and conjugated dienes (CD), and antioxidants including enzyme superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase, plasma vitamin E and vitamin C in diabetic patients. Fifty-eight diabetic subjects; 16 males and 42 females, aged 30-75 years, were recruited. Eighteen of them had diabetes and forty of them had diabetes with hyperlipidemia. Twenty-seven healthy subjects, 8 males and 19 females, aged 30-75 years, were used as the control group. The results showed that the concentrations of plasma MDA in diabetic patients with or without hyperlipidemia tended to be increased when compared to the controls but there were no significant differences. The CD values were increased significantly in both diabetic groups when compared with control subjects. Significantly elevated levels of plasma MDA and CD were found in diabetic patients with hypertriglyceridemia (> 150 mg%). This increment did not change the antioxidant status in both enzymes and vitamins except that the plasma vitamin E levels and the ratios of tocopherol: cholesterol were increased significantly. An increase of lipid peroxide in plasma may be one important factor in the development of vascular complication and atherosclerosis seen in diabetic patients.