Effect of smoking on leptin concentration in normal subjects and during acute myocardial infarction

The purpose of this study was to measure leptin concentrations in the blood of smokers and non smokers during ST elevation acute myocardial infarction, and to compare them with values obtained from normal smoker and non smoker subjects. Leptin serum concentrations were measured in 58 patients [34-75 years of age] with acute myocardial infarction and 38 normal subjects [36-69 years of age]. Leptin serum concentrations were measured using two-site immunoradiometric assay [IRMA] principle. In normal smokers [N=20] leptin concentration was 5.8 +/- 2.5 ng/ml [mean +/- SD], while in non smokers [N=18] this value was 5.9 +/- 4.1 ng/ml [mean +/- SD]. Data showed no significant difference in both groups [p > 0.05]. While leptin concentration was 7.8 +/- 2.9 ng/ml in smoker patients [N=32] which was significantly higher than in normal smoker subjects [p=0.02]. Also leptin value was 9.2 +/- 3.7 ng/ml in non smoker patients [N=28] which was also significantly higher than in normal non smoker subjects [p=0.001]. Our results demonstrated that smoking has no effect on leptin concentrations in normal subjects and in patients with acute myocardial infarction, but leptin concentration increases significantly during ST elevation acute myocardial infarction in smoker and non smoker patients

High frequency of suboptimal serum vitamin B12 level in adults in Jordan

To assess the prevalence of functional vitamin B12 deficiency status in an adult Jordanian seemingly healthy population. We carried out this study in the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jordanian University of Science and Technology, Jordan from September 2004 to January 2005. We included a randomly selected sample of 216 healthy adult volunteers [male 124, female 92, aged 19-50 years] from north Jordan. We carried out the measurement of hematological variables by Micros 60-OT Analyzer. We measured the serum vitamin B12 by microparticle enzyme immunoassay and serum folate by ion-capture assay on an AxSYM Analyzer. We found suboptimal [<222 pg/ml] serum levels of vitamin B12 in 104 [48.1%] [male 64, female 40] subjects. The mean serum vitamin B12 level of male in all volunteers was 238.8 +/- 97.3 pg/ml, not significantly different [p=0.24] from that of female [261.8 +/- 101.6 pg/ml]. The mean serum values of vitamin B12 of male in the suboptimal group [168.3 +/- 36.4 pg/ml; range 90-221] were not significantly different from that of female [178.2 +/- 27.5 pg/ml; range 113-217] [p=0.31]. Of the suboptimal group, 30 subjects [28.8%] had hyper-segmented neutrophils, 38 subjects [36.5%] had low mean corpuscular volume and 8 subjects [7.7%] had sub-optimal serum folate levels. This study revealed that there was a high frequency of suboptimal serum vitamin B12 level, which is an early sign of negative B12 balance