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Unlabelled: Carbohydrate disorders are important and independent risk factor for cardiovascular system diseases. Increased values of pulse pressure are an independent risk factor for cardiovascular complications and total mortality. The aim of the study was to evaluate the pulse pressure in subjects with carbohydrate disorders., Material and Methods: The study comprised 112 subjects with carbohydrate disorders (54 females and 58 males), aged 30-78 (57.4 +/- 9.6) years. Carbohydrate disorders were diagnosed according to the Polish Diabetes Association criteria from 2007 (group 1). 56 subjects had impaired fasting glucose (IFG), 36--impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and 20--type 2 diabetes. Comparative group comprised 30 subjects without cardiovascular diseases and carbohydrate disorders (15 females and 15 males), aged 29-64 (52.7,4 +/- 8.8) years (group II). The fasting serum glucose level was evaluated using an enzymatic method, Kone-Pro biochemical analyzer and bioMérieux Glucose RTU kit. In subjects with fasting glucose level > or = 100 mg/dl, an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed. In all subjects 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring with oscillometric method, using boso-TM-2430PL system (Bosch+Sohn, Germany). Pulse pressure (pp) was evaluated as a mean difference between the systolic and diastolic pressure., Results: In subjects with carbohydrate disorders the mean value of pp was 56.79 +/- 16.28 mmHg and it was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than in comparative group (49.0 +/- 11.1 mmHg). Increased value of pp (> 63 mmHg) was found significantly more often in group with carbohydrate disorders (46% vs 10%) (p < 0.05). On the basis of ROC curve analysis and OR (odds ratio) it was shown that pp > or = 52.5 mmHg results in a threefold increased risk of carbohydrate disorders., Conclusions: Increased values of pulse pressure are found significantly more often in subjects with carbohydrate disorders. The risk of carbohydrate disorders increases threefold in subjects with pp > or = 52.5 mmHg.

Unlabelled: Large epidemiological studies conducted during last 25 years confirmed the importance of resting heart rate as an independent risk factor for total and cardiovascular mortality in females and males, both in overall population and in subjects with cardiovascular diseases such as arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, heart failure or left ventricular dysfunction. The aim of the study was to evaluate the resting heart rate (HR) in subjects with carbohydrate disorders., Material and Methods: The study comprised 112 subjects with carbohydrate disorders (54 females and 58 males), aged 30-78 (57.4 +/- 9.6) years. Carbohydrate disorders were diagnosed according to the Polish Diabetes Association criteria from 2007 (group I). 56 subjects had impaired fasting glucose (IFG), 36 - impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and 20 - type 2 diabetes. Comparative group comprised 30 subjects without cardiovascular diseases and carbohydrate disorders (15 females and 15 males), aged 29-64 (52.7 +/- 8.8) years (group II). The fasting serum glucose level was evaluated using an enzymatic method, Kone Pro biochemical analyzer and bioMérieux Glucose RTU kit. In subjects with fasting glucose level > or = 100 mg/dl, an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed. Additionally, in all subjects resting heart rate (HR) was measured, after 10-minute rest, at a room temperature of about 20 degrees C. The measurements were made threefold, every 5 minutes and mean value was assessed., Results: In subjects with carbohydrate disorders HR was significantly higher than in comparative group (82.79 +/- 12.1 vs 69.9 +/- 9.56/min; p < 0.05). In group of subjects with carbohydrate disorders in comparison to comparative group, resting heart rate < 60/min occurred in 1.79 vs 13.33%, in intervals: 60-70/min in 14.29 vs 50%. 71-80/min in 33.93 vs 23.33%, 81-90/min in 25% vs 13.33%, and above 90/min in 25% of studied group (p < 0.05). On the basis of ROC curve analysis and odds ratio (OR) it was shown that HR > or = 72.5/min is an independent risk factor for carbohydrate disorders., Conclusions: Resting heart rate > or = 72.5/min is an independent risk factor for carbohydrate disorders and increases its risk more than ninefold.

Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptors are members of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily of ligand-activated transcription factors. The PPAR subfamily consists of three members: PPAR-alpha, PPAR-sigma (NUC-1 or beta) and PPAR-gamma. PPARs regulate gene expression by binding, as heterodimers with retinoid X receptors (RXR), to specific response elements (PPREs) in the promoter regions of target genes. The prostaglandin 12 especially, all arachidonic acid metabolites and polyunsaturated fatty acids are naturally occuring PPAR ligands. Synthetic PPAR ligands are thiazolidinediones (TZDs--rosiglitazone, pioglitazone, troglitazone). Activation of nuclear hormone receptors has been identified as an approach to induce differentiation and inhibit proliferation of cancer lines. The anti-proliferative, pro-differentiation effects of PPAR activators (TZDs) suggest that these compounds might be useful in slowing the proliferation of un-differentiated tumour cells. TZDs inhibit proliferation of human breast, prostate and colon cancers, both in vitro and in tumours derived from these cells implanted into rodents. Furthermore, recent studies show that PPAR-gamma ligands are potent inhibitors of angiogenesis, a process essential for solid-tumour growth and metastasis. In conclusion, the evidence to date suggests that activation of PPAR should suppress tumour growth and development. This represents an exciting novel therapeutic application of TZDs. In present paper, structural features of PPARs, their gene transcription mechanisms and recent developments in the discovery of their biological functions are reviewed.

17 beta estradiol plays an important role in breast cancer development, growth. Aromatase, a cytochrome P-450 enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of androgens to estrogens, is responsible for estrogen biosynthesis in the post-menopausal women. Aromatase transcripts have been detected in the breast cancer cells, where the 30-100 fold higher concentration of estrogen in comparison with the plasma level were found. Suppression of local estrogen biosynthesis can be achieved by inhibition of aromatase expression in breast cancer. In order to determine aromatase mRNA level in breast cancer tissue we propose the quantitative competitive RT-PCR method using internal standard of aromatase. As a housekeeping gene we have used GAPDH. The determination of aromatase expression in breast cancer might aid in selecting patients for aromatase inhibitor therapy as a first line hormonal treatment.

Breast cancer is often relatively slow growing, but at diagnosis about 40% of patients have regional spread to at least one axillary node. It has been shown that unrelated clones are in primary breast carcinomas. There is possibility that only a small subpopulation of the cells of the primary tumour (PT) metastasis. It has been shown that Ki-67 protein is a useful marker in histopathology, which is present during all active phases of the cell cycle and making possibility to assess growth fraction of tumour cells. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the expression of Ki-67 and comparison between the PTs and MRLNs as well as to estimate the relationships between Ki-67 and the chosen anatomoclinical features of the breast cancer. Immunohistochemical analyses for Ki-67 were performed on the PTs (69 cases without primary chemotherapy) and MRLNs (33 cases) of breast cancer. Increased expression of Ki-67 in PTs significantly correlated with pT2 stage of tumours (p < 0.05) and grade G3 (p < 0.04), but there was not relationship with lymph node status. Expression of Ki-67 positively correlated between PTs and MRLNs (p < 0.001). Comparison between PTs and matching MRLNs revealed that 23 (69.7%) cases showed a convergence between PTs and matching MRLNs with regard to negative or positive staining. We would like to emphasize the importance of studies concerning the proteins involved in proliferation in MRLNs, because knowledge about heterogeneity between PTs and MRLNs could shed light on tumour biology and may lead to development of more effective anti-cancer therapies.