Iranian Journal of Diabetes and Obesity

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Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited common autosomal Mendelian disorder of lipoprotein metabolism with a population prevalence of 1 in 500. FH is characterized by severely elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), which result in surplus deposition of cholesterol in tissues. This condition leads to premature at hero sclerosis and early-onset of coronary heart disease. FH mainly results from mutations in the LDLR gene. However, mutations in other genes like APOB and PCSK9 can cause similar phenotype. Early diagnosis and treatment of FH patients will reduce morbidity and mortality. Index cases are usually diagnosed using cholesterol levels, clinical characteristics and familial history despite this, genetic testing may present a decisive diagnosis of FH by detecting a pathological mutation. Then cascade testing is implemented for first-degree relatives by using lipid levels and genetic tests. This is the most cost-effective strategy performed in some countries. Statins are the first-line treatment in most of the patients for LDL-C reduction. Nonetheless, many FH patients cannot attain to the normal LDL-C levels with statins consumption. For these patients several new classes of pharmacotherapy and novel strategies exist to obtain greater LDL-C reductions such as ezetimibe, colesevelam, thyroid hormone analogs, microsomal triglyceride transfer protein inhibitors, apolipoprotein B100 antisense and PCSK9-specific monoclonal antibodies. In this article we review familial hypercholesterolemia, its diagnostic methods and genetic tests, new pharmacotherapies and novel strategies in the management of familial hypercholesterolemia.

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Objective: The overweight-related health problems among adolescents are obvious. Resistance training is recognized as a safe and efficacious exercise modality to have health-promoting effects in overweight adolescents. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of circuit resistance training (CRT) in improving inflammatory status, insulin resistance and body composition in overweight male adolescents.
Materials and Methods: Twenty overweight adolescent boys (aged: 18.5 (±1), weight: 81.1 (±4.5), body mass index: 27.7 (±0.7)) completed this study. The participants were randomly and equally divided into two groups of control (CG; n=10) and circuit resistance training (CRT; n=10). The CG did their daily routine activities and the CRT group performed its training protocol 3 days a week for 6 weeks. Body composition components and serum variables were measured a day before and after the study. Insulin resistance index was measured by HOMA-IR.
Results: The subjects in the CG showed significantly increased changes compared with pre-training values. Moreover, significant changes were found fort the changes of BW (P-value= 0.005), BMI (P-value= 0.001) and BF% (P-value= 0.003) between groups.
Conclusion: This study suggested that although six weeks of CRT failed to induce meaningful anti-inflammatory cytokine responses, and to improve body composition and HOMA-IR in overweight adolescent boys, but had protective effects on inflammatory status, HOMA-IR and body composition and prevented them from being deteriorated.

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Objective: Apolipoprotein B (APOB) plays an important role in the metabolism of cholesterol and impairment in its function can lead to cholesterol accumulation in the pancreatic islets. It can then reduce insulin secretion and lead to Type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of 3'APOB-VNTR polymorphism with plasma lipid profiles in T2DM individuals in Khorasan Razavi province, Iran.
Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 204 patients with T2DM and 207 non-diabetic volunteers were examined as a control group. All samples were analyzed for plasma lipid profiles. Genotypes were determined by PCR and electrophoresis. Differences in lipid variables between genotypes were assessed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with SPSS 20.0.
Results: We found 18 different alleles of the APOB gene 3'VNTR comprising from 26 to 45 hypervariable elements (HVEs) in the control groups and 21 alleles ranging from 30 to 51 repeats in the T2DM patients. Short alleles (26 to 29 HVEs) were only in controls and large alleles (46 to 51 HVEs) were only in T2DM patients. Our results showed that in people with long HVE polymorphism, HDL-C levels decreased, but LDL-C increased. Therefore, longer alleles for T2DM are considered risk factors. It was also observed that the TC / HDL-C ratio was significantly lower in shorter genotypes than the longer genotypes in T2DM patients.
Conclusion: It is concluded that 3'APOB-VNTR polymorphisms, especially longer alleles, affect plasma lipid levels in individuals with T2DM and are risk factors for this disease.

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Anxiety, sleep quality deterioration and depression are among the disorders that diabetic patients encounter. Today, non-drug methods have grown significantly in an effort to reduce anxiety and improve sleep quality. One of these methods is aromatherapy, which uses various plant essential oils. The present study was conducted to study the effect of inhalation aromatherapy with essential oils of various plants on the anxiety and sleep quality of diabetic patients.
The results of this study indicate that aromatherapy with lavender, rosemary, bitter orange blossom, and orange essential oils can reduce anxiety levels. Additionally, using lavender, rosemary, sandalwood, and bitter orange blossom essential oils helps improve the sleep quality of diabetic patients. This study highlights the beneficial effects of aromatherapy using essential oils in reducing anxiety levels and improving sleep quality among diabetic patients. As the trend towards complementary medicine continues to grow, integrating aromatherapy into patient care represents an accessible and effective non-pharmacological approach to enhance mental well-being and sleep among this population. Implementing these findings in practice may lead to improved patient outcomes and a holistic approach to diabetes management.