bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of hormone replacement therapy on cardiovascular risk factors in postmenopausal women with diabetes*
Authors: Scott A. R. , Dhindsa P. , Forsyth J. , Mansell P. 
Published: December 2003

Background:  Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in postmenopausal women improves menopausal symptoms, decreases the incidence of osteoporotic fracture, but the effects on cardiovascular risk factors remain controversial.Aim:  To test the hypothesis that HRT may have beneficial effects on the cardiovascular risk profile in postmenopausal women with diabetes.Methods:  One hundred and fifty postmenopausal patients with type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) were randomized to receive HRT (Kliofem) or placebo for 12 months. We monitored the effects on cardiovascular risk factors, including lipid profile, glycaemic control, blood pressure and body weight.Results:  Mean low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was associated with a nonsignificant decrease [−0.14 mmol/l (CI = −0.44, 0.17) (p = 0.37)] in the Kliofem‐treated group. Total cholesterol fell by 0.42 mmol/l (CI = −0.78, −0.05) (p = 0.027). High‐density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was reduced by a mean of 0.07 mmol/l compared to a mean rise of 0.12 mmol/l on placebo. There were apparent differences in the treatment effects between T1DM and T2DM. There was no change in triglycerides or apoprotein B and no effect on glycaemic control, blood pressure or menopausal symptom scores. In the Kliofem group, BMI fell by 0.66 kg/m2 compared to an increase of 0.14 kg/m2 for placebo patients (p = 0.046).Conclusions:  Although the long‐term effects of HRT in women with or without diabetes appear to suggest that some types of HRT either confer no cardiovascular protection or may increase risk, the impact of Kliofem diabetic women on cardiovascular risk factors is probably neutral.
Obesity in the Caribbean: the Jamaican experience
Authors: Ragoobirsingh D. , Morrison E. Y. St. A. , Johnson P. , Lewis‐Fuller E. 
Published: December 2003

Aim:  This study was designed to investigate the point prevalence and pattern of obesity in the Jamaican adult population.Methods:  A two‐stage‐stratified random sampling design was used, and individuals aged 15 years and over were interviewed. In addition, anthropometric measurements were performed. The data were analysed using the SPSS statistical software version 8. Non‐response was documented and factored into the final analysis of the survey data.Results:  A total of 2105 individuals responded to the all island survey, with 69% being females. Truncal obesity and gynoid obesity showed similar prevalence data. Both were affected by increasing age, being female, level of education attained and smoking status.Conclusions:  Jamaica has a point prevalence of obesity, truncal 36.2% and gynoid 34.1%, in the 15 and over age group.
Comparison of the effects of glimepiride and glibenclamide on adipose tissue tumour necrosis factor‐α mRNA expression and cellularity
Authors: Mori Y. , Komiya H. , Kurokawa N. , Tajima N. 
Published: December 2003

Aim:  The aim of this study was to compare the effects of glimepiride and glibenclamide on tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‐α expression and adipocyte cellularity in spontaneously diabetic, obese rats.Methods:  Eight‐week‐old male Otsuka Long‐Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats were randomized to receive glimepiride, glibenclamide or control treatment for 12 weeks, after which TNF‐α mRNA levels, adipose tissue cellularity and physiological parameters were measured.Results:  TNF‐α mRNA expression in retroperitoneal fat tissue was significantly greater in the glibenclamide group (2.2 ± 1.1), compared with the control group (0.9 ± 0.4; p < 0.05) or the glimepiride group (0.9 ± 0.2; p < 0.01). The mean fat‐cell area in retroperitoneal fat tissue was increased at study endpoint in the glibenclamide group (13 764 ± 7036 µm2), compared with both the control and glimepiride groups (10 755 ± 6193 µm2 and 11 317 ± 5646 µm2 respectively; p < 0.05). Investigation of cellularity revealed a decrease in the frequency of small fat cells and an increase in the frequency of large fat cells in both the glibenclamide and glimepiride groups compared with the control group, with a greater increase in large fat cells in the glibenclamide group. At study endpoint, insulin and triglyceride values were significantly higher in the active treatment groups compared with the control group; however, insulin levels were significantly greater in glibenclamide‐treated animals compared with glimepiride‐treated animals. An oral glucose tolerance test performed at the end of the study showed that there were no significant differences among the three groups in terms of plasma glucose and insulin concentrations.Conclusions:  This study suggests that although both glibenclamide and glimepiride may have a hypertrophisizing effect on fat cells in adipose tissues, this effect is greater with glibenclamide, leading to augmentation of TNF‐α mRNA expression and possible exacerbation of insulin resistance.
Effects of short‐term metformin treatment on insulin sensitivity of blood glucose and free fatty acids
Authors: Iannello S. , Camuto M. , Cavaleri A. , Milazzo P. , Pisano M. G. , Bellomia D. , Belfiore F. 
Published: December 2003

Aim:  Based on the known effect of metformin (MET) in improving insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetes, with the scope to focus the effects on glycaemic and free fatty acids (FFA) levels, we studied the effects of a short‐term treatment with this drug in obese subjects and obese patients with diabetes or family history of diabetes (FHD). We used a method to allow us to evaluate the possible difference of insulin sensibility with regard to the insulin action on glycaemia and blood FFA, both in the basal state and during oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).Methods:  Insulin sensitivity was investigated before and after MET treatment (850 mg bid for 10 days) in seven obese subjects with normal glucose tolerance and without FHD and 13 obese patients with diabetes (n = 7) or FHD (n = 6). By using specifically designed formulae, we calculated four insulin‐sensitivity indices (ISI) from basal level (b) and area values (a) (during OGTT) of insulinaemia, glycaemia (gly) or FFA (ffa), namely: ISI (gly)‐b, ISI (gly)‐a, ISI (ffa)‐b and ISI (ffa)‐a.Results:  In patients with diabetes or FHD, MET improved ISI (gly)‐b (0.79 ± 0.06 vs. 0.59 ± 0.07, p < 0.001) and ISI (gly)‐a (0.69 ± 0.09 vs. 0.51 ± 0.07, p < 0.05), whereas only minor changes occurred for ISI (ffa)‐b and ISI (ffa)‐a. In contrast, in simple obese subjects, MET induced further deterioration of both ISI (gly)‐a (0.47 ± 0.07 vs. 0.64 ± 0.10, p < 0.01) and ISI (ffa)‐a (0.43 ± 0.07 vs. 0.55 ± 0.08, p < 0.05). Fasting level and total area of lactate were high in the obese patients and were not affected by MET. A statistically significant increase (p < 0.01), however, was observed for the ‘decremental’ area of lactate in obese subjects with diabetes or FHD, which might probably contribute to the reduction of insulin resistance induced by the drug in these patients.Conclusions:  Although the low number of subjects studied precludes absolute conclusions, data would suggest that MET improved ISI towards glucose but not towards FFA, in the diabetic and ‘prediabetic’ obese patients, whereas worsened it in the obese subjects without FHD. Therefore, the effects of MET would not be secondary to changes of FFA but rather to a primary action of MET on glucose metabolism. Thus, utilization of MET to treat the insulin resistance in obesity is indicated only in the presence of alterations of glucose metabolism or FHD.
Role of fat amount and type in ameliorating diet‐induced obesity: insights at the level of hypothalamic arcuate nucleus leptin receptor, neuropeptide Y and pro‐opiomelanocortin mRNA expression
Authors: Huang X.‐F. , Xin X. , McLennan P. , Storlien L. 
Published: December 2003

Aims:  Dietary fatty acid profile, independent of caloric percent of fat, is a major regulator of body adiposity. This study examined the effects of dietary fat amount and types on fat storage and hypothalamic gene expression in the mouse model of chronic diet‐induced obesity.Methods:  The dietary interventions were in twofold: (1) the obesity was induced by a 13‐week obesogenic fat diet compared with a low‐fat (LF) diet, and (2) the reversibility was tested by using high n‐3 polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) and LF diets. Fifty‐four C57Bl/6 mice were fed a high‐fat (59% in kcal) diet for 13 weeks and then classified as diet‐induced obese (DIO) or diet‐resistant (DR) mice according to upper and lower tertiles of body weight gain. The DIO mice were then subdivided into three groups for a 6‐week secondary dietary intervention. Two of the groups were switched to either a high n‐3 PUFA (DIO‐n3) or a low‐fat (10% in kcal, DIO‐LF) diet, whereas the third (controls) and DR mice continued on the initial high‐fat diet. Food efficiency was calculated as weekly body weight gain per gram of food intake.Results:  After switching the DIO mice to the n‐3 PUFA or LF diet, their body weights were reduced to the level of the DR and LF mice. The food efficiencies were, from the highest to lowest, in the order: DIO > LF > DR >  DIO‐LF > DIO‐n3. Using quantitative in situ hybridization, we found that the DIO mice had higher levels of leptin receptor (LR, +290%, p < 0.005) and neuropeptide Y (NPY, +25%, p < 0.05) mRNA expression in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (Arc) than the DR mice, whereas the level of pro‐opiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA expression was significantly reduced (−45%, p < 0.01). All effects that were essentially returned to DR levels by the change to the n‐3 PUFA diet and, with the exception of a failure to normalize Arc NPY mRNA levels, by the change to LF diet.Conclusions:  Taken together, the present results show that both change in level and quality of dietary fat can potently alter hypothalamic neuropeptide expression and result in effective amelioration of diet‐induced obesity. Interestingly, the n‐3 PUFA diet when fed to already obese mice produced a pattern of hypothalamic gene expression similar to that in obesity resistant (DR) mice. It remains to be determined if the effects of n‐3 fatty acids on brain neuropeptide gene expression are direct or indirect.
The effect of polymorphism in the intestinal fatty acid‐binding protein 2 gene on fat metabolism is associated with gender and obesity amongst non‐diabetic Japanese–Americans
Authors: Nakanishi S. , Yamane K. , Kamei N. , Okubo M. , Kohno N. 
Published: December 2003

Aim:  The role of the codon 54 polymorphism of the fatty acid‐binding protein 2 (FABP2) gene on fat metabolism has been controversial. Assuming that the effects of the polymorphism were modulated by gender and obesity which were related to lipid and glucose metabolism, we investigated this polymorphism and its effect on fat metabolism according to such factors.Methods:  Subjects were Japanese–Americans (123 men and 126 women) who were diagnosed as non‐diabetic by a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test at the baseline.Results:  During approximately 7.8 years, 49 (24 men and 25 women) were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. In a Cox proportional hazards model, this polymorphism was not a significant variable in the incidence of diabetes in either gender. Amongst non‐obese men with the Thr54 allele, there was a significant elevation of triglycerides (TGs) (p = 0.033) compared with alanine (Ala) homozygotes. Women with the Thr54 allele had significantly elevated total cholesterol (p = 0.033) and low‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol (LDL‐C) (p = 0.023) compared with Ala54 homozygotes.Conclusions:  These results therefore suggested that the effects of the FABP2 polymorphism on TG, LDL‐C and body mass index were associated with gender difference and obesity amongst non‐diabetic Japanese–American subjects.
Effects of the sibutramine therapy on pulmonary artery pressure in obese patients
Authors: Guven A. , Koksal N. , Cetinkaya A. , Sokmen G. , Ozdemir R. 
Published: December 2003

Aim:  Obesity is a major global public health problem. Previous drugs (dexfenfluramine and fenfluramine) used for the treatment of obesity have been withdrawn due to various cardiac side effects. Sibutramine is an anti‐obesity agent. The purpose of this study was to assess cardiac valve disease and pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) of the patients who used once daily doses of sibutramine.Methods:  One hundred and six obese patients (51 men and 55 women) determined to have minimal tricuspid regurgitation (TR) on echocardiographic examination were included in the study. All patients had a complete physical examination, complete blood count and measurement of lipid parameters, and echocardiography was performed by which cardiac valves and PAP were evaluated. After the mean duration of 24‐week of follow up, all examinations were repeated for each patient.Results:  The drug was well tolerated by all patients for the follow‐up period. A significant weight loss was recorded in all patients compared to the baseline values (93.1 ± 9.6 kg vs. 85.8 ± 7.7 kg, p < 0.001). Blood pressures and heart rate of the patients increased compared to the baseline measurements (systolic 122.3 ± 8.5 vs. 124 ± 10.2 mmHg, p = 0.128, diastolic 79.3 ± 4.7 vs. 80 ± 5.7 mmHg, p = 0.42 and heart rate 79.5 ± 6.5 vs. 85 ± 5.7 beats/min, p < 0.001). Echocardiographically determined aortic or mitral valve dysfunction appeared in none of the patients. PAP lightly increased after the treatment but the difference between pre and post‐treatment values was not found statistically significant (14.7 ± 1.8 vs. 16.3 ± 1.6 mmHg, p = 0.06).Conclusions:  A 24‐week treatment with sibutramine does not affect heart valves and pulmonary artery pressure.
Effect of the angiotensin II receptor blocker candesartan on fibrinolysis in patients with mild hypertension
Authors: Skurk T. , Lee Y.‐M. , Nicuta‐Rölfs T.‐O. , Haastert B. , Wirth A. , Hauner H. 
Published: December 2003

Aim:  Impaired fibrinolysis is frequently observed in patients with the metabolic syndrome. Aim of the study was to examine the short‐term effect of angiotensin II receptor blockade on the fibrinolytic system.Methods:  Seventy‐four patients with mild hypertension were randomly assigned to a 7‐day treatment period with either 16 mg candesartan cilexetil or placebo. Several variables of the fibrinolytic system such as plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1 (PAI‐1) antigen and activity, tissue plasminogen activator (t‐PA) antigen and activity as well as circulating t‐PA/PAI‐1 complexes were determined.Results:  At baseline, the body mass index but not blood pressure was positively associated with PAI‐1 antigen (r = 0.314, p < 0.01) and PAI‐1 activity (r = 0.425, p < 0.01) but negatively with t‐PA activity (r = −0.187, p < 0.05). A 7‐day treatment with 16 mg candesartan cilexetil resulted in a significant greater reduction of diastolic blood pressure (−10.3 ± 10.8 mmHg vs.−5.8 ± 8.5 mmHg, p = 0.03). However, there was no significant effect of candesartan on all parameters of the fibrinolytic system under investigation, i.e. circulating PAI‐1 antigen, PAI‐1 activity, t‐PA antigen, t‐PA activity and t‐PA/PAI‐1 complexes. Furthermore, candesartan did not affect the characteristic circadian pattern of the variables of the fibrinolytic system.Conclusion:  We conclude that short‐term blockade of the angiotensin II receptor subtype 1 with candesartan does not have an impact on fibrinolysis in patients with mild hypertension.
The effect of acarbose on insulin resistance in obese hypertensive subjects with normal glucose tolerance: a randomized controlled study
Authors: Rachmani R. , Bar‐Dayan Y. , Ronen Z. , Levi Z. , Slavachevsky I. , Ravid M. 
Published: December 2003

Aim:  Acarbose, a glucose oxidase inhibitor, delays the absorption of glucose thus reducing post‐prandial blood glucose level, haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and insulin resistance in patients with diabetes mellitus and in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance. The effect of acarbose in subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) has hitherto not been examined. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of acarbose in obese hypertensive subjects with NGT.Methods:  A double‐blinded, parallel group study was performed on 56 male subjects with hypertension, body mass index (BMI) 27–35 kg/m2, fasting blood glucose ≤ 6 mmol/l and a normal oral glucose tolerance test. Blood pressure, HbA1c, lipid profile and insulin resistance [homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) index] were determined initially and following 24 weeks of acarbose, 150 mg/day or placebo. The primary end point was the change in insulin resistance. Anti‐hypertensive treatment and diet were kept constant during the study.Results:  Insulin resistance decreased in acarbose users but not on placebo. HOMA index declined from 5.36 ± 1.7 to 4.10 ± 1.6 (p = 0.001) on acarbose, the corresponding values on placebo were 5.44 ± 1.9 and 5.53 ± 1.7. A decrease in serum triglyceride values (2.16 ± 0.16 mmol/l to 1.76 ± 0.15 mmol/l, p = 0.02) took place on acarbose with no change on placebo. There was no change in BMI, low‐density lipoprotein or high‐density lipoprotein values in either group. Blood pressure declined equally in both the groups, probably due to better patient compliance.Conclusions:  Acarbose may reduce insulin resistance and triglycerides also in obese hypertensive subjects with normal glucose tolerance.
Lack of concordance between plasma markers of cardiovascular risk and intima‐media thickness in patients with type 2 diabetes
Authors: Moussavi N. , Renier G. , Roussin A. , Mamputu J.‐C. , Buithieu J. , Serri O. 
Published: December 2003

Aim:  Endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress and systemic inflammation play an important role in the enhanced cardiovascular risk in diabetes. Carotid intima‐media thickness (IMT), a widely accepted marker of subclinical atherosclerosis, is known to be increased in patients with type 2 diabetes. The relationships between plasma markers of cardiac risk and carotid IMT are not well known. We therefore studied a group of patients with type 2 diabetes to evaluate the relationships between plasma markers of cardiac risk and carotid IMT.Design and patients:  We measured carotid IMT and the levels of soluble endothelial adhesion molecules [sE‐selectin, intercellular cell adhesion molecule‐1 (sICAM‐1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule‐1 (sVCAM‐1)], C‐reactive protein (CRP) and 8‐isoprostane in 40 patients with type 2 diabetes without clinical macrovascular complications (HbA1c < 10%, duration of diabetes < 12 years) and 25 healthy subjects. We then examined the correlations between these plasma markers, carotid IMT and various clinical and biochemical parameters.Results:  Diabetic patients had higher plasma sE‐selectin (p = 0.03), sICAM‐1 (p = 0.05), CRP (p = 0.047) and 8‐isoprostane (p = 0.001) concentrations than control subjects. Mean IMT values were identical (0.63 ± 0.02 mm) in diabetic (range, 0.40–0.92 mm) and healthy subjects (range, 0.45–0.85 mm). In diabetic patients, stepwise multivariate analysis showed that HbA1c and plasma glucose were independent predictors of sE‐selectin (r2 = 0.19 and r2 = 0.17, p < 0.01, respectively), whereas waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) were predictors of sICAM‐1 (r2 = 0.27, p = 0.001 and r2 = 0.22, p = 0.002, respectively). Waist circumference was the only predictor of CRP (r2 = 0.2, p < 0.01), and systolic blood pressure was the only predictor of 8‐isoprostane (r2 = 0.19, p = 0.006). In control subjects, similar analysis showed that plasma glucose and waist circumference were predictors of sE‐selectin and sICAM‐1, respectively (r2 = 0.2, p < 0.05).Conclusions:  These results indicate that some well‐controlled type 2 diabetic patients free of clinical macrovascular complications have elevated plasma markers of cardiovascular risk without having increased IMT. The elevation of plasma markers of endothelial cell activation (sE‐selectin and s‐ICAM‐1) or inflammation (CRP) and oxidative stress (8‐isoprostane) in diabetics vs. controls is distinct from and cannot be explained simply by differences in the burden of atherosclerosis as assessed by carotid IMT.
Christianity and Indigenous Peoples: A Personal Overview
Authors: Ranger Terence 
Published: December 2003

This article summarizes its author's response over more than 30 years to the various arguments advanced against the possibility of the appropriation of Christianity by indigenous peoples. It sets out the intellectual and evidential reasons for rejecting these arguments. However, it admits that while indigenous appropriation of Christianity is always possible, under some circumstances it has been improbable. Many indigenous peoples have made use of Christianity but in the past there has been comparatively little appropriation by Native Americans or Australian Aborigines. This article explores the reasons for this. When the factors that have accounted for resistance and rejection rather than adaption no longer exist, it may be expected that Aborigines will indeed appropriate Christianity. The article concludes with a brief examination of academic work on African appropriations and suggests that new developments in Aboriginal Christianity will reveal how far comparisons can be made.
Two Indigenous Evangelists: Moses Tjalkabota and Arthur Wellington Clah
Authors: Brock Peggy 
Published: December 2003

Arthur Wellington Clah was a Tsimshian man on the Pacific north‐west coast of Canada, who encountered the missionary, William Duncan, as a young adult at the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Simpson in the 1850s. Moses Tjalkabota was an Arrernte man in central Australia. He was a young boy when he first came into contact with Lutheran missionaries at Hermannsburg mission in the 1880s, and was baptized in 1890. Both these men became Christian evangelists, both preached to their own people, and further afield among neighbouring groups. But here the similarities between them seem to stop. Clah was never part of a mission settlement, maintaining his independence from any established church; while Moses, who became blind as a young man, spent most of his life at Hermannsburg. This article examines these two evangelists’ understandings of Christianity and how they communicated these understandings to their own and neighbouring peoples. Clah encouraged good behaviour, which conformed with his understanding of Christian precepts; Moses tried to communicate a more abstract form of belief through which happiness and eternal life could be attained.
Hard Times or Great Expectations? Dividend Omissions and Dividend Cuts by UK Firms*
Authors: Benito Andrew , Young Garry 
Published: December 2003

AbstractThis paper uncovers an increasing proportion of quoted UK companies omitting cash dividends. Using a large panel of quoted UK firms, we estimate panel data probit models for the incidence of dividend omissions and cuts as functions of financial characteristics including cash flow, leverage, investment opportunities, investment and company size. These variables account for most of the increase in omission since 1995. There is relatively little evidence to link this to the major tax reform of 1997 that abolished tax refunds on dividend income payable to tax‐exempt institutions. Significant persistence effects indicate companies are slow to adjust their balance sheets through their dividend.
Non‐linear Predictability of UK Stock Market Returns*
Authors: McMillan David G. 
Published: December 2003

AbstractLinear predictability of stock market returns has been widely reported. However, recently developed theoretical research has suggested that due to the interaction of noise and arbitrage traders, stock returns are inherently non‐linear, whereby market dynamics differ between small and large returns. This paper examines whether an exponential smooth transition threshold model, which is capable of capturing this non‐linear behaviour, can provide a better characterization of UK stock market returns than either a linear model or an alternate non‐linear model. The results of both in‐sample and out‐of‐sample specification tests support the exponential smooth transition threshold model and hence the belief that investor behaviour does differ between large and small returns.