Reduction in asymmetric dimethylarginine plasma levels by coenzyme Q10 supplementation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

AIM: According to many studies, supplementation with Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) yields beneficial results in terms of endothelial function in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Despite these promising results, data elucidating the effect of CoQ10 on plasma levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), as a recently discussed cardiovascular risk factor, is lacking. This study was designed to investigate the effect of CoQ10 supplementation on endothelial function, specifically by evaluating plasma ADMA levels. METHODS: Sixty-four type 2 diabetic patients were randomly assigned to two groups; either receiving 200mg/d oral dose of CoQ10 (N.=31) or receiving placebo (N.=33) for 12 weeks. Clinical and biochemical assessments were performed before and after the trial for evaluating ADMA, serum nitrite and nitrate (NOx), hemoglobin A1c and lipid profile. RESULTS: The intervention resulted in a significant improvement in ADMA, NOx , low-density lipoprotein and hemoglobin A1c levels in CoQ10 compared to placebo group. Interestingly, difference in changes of these parameters were also significant (P=0.01, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.03, respectively). CONCLUSION: Supplementation with CoQ10 yields beneficial effects on ADMA levels, leading to decreased diabetic cardiovascular events.

[E-health and Cyberdoc - "health portals" from a professional and quality assurance viewpoint]. / E-Health und Cyberdoc - Gesundheitsportale im Blickfeld von Standesrecht und Qualitätssicherung.

As a special expression of e-business in the health service the sphere of e-health has developed in recent years which increasingly manifests itself in the internet via health portals. Next to the transmitting of medical contents, the offer of community functions and the trading with goods from the medical sector, these health portals now increasingly provide advisory services for citizens by medical experts. Even if these services are predominantly effected by physicians, this activity is in agreement with the regulations of the currently valid professional responsibility law for German physicians, as its main emphasis (at the moment) is on health prevention and information. The safeguarding of quality of the online retrievable health information creates a further problem. The different approaches to the safeguarding of the quality of medical contents in the internet do not exempt the user from making a self-responsible decision as to which information he may consider reliable. This is due to the fact that there are no standardised control criteria.