Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a strong risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral arterial disease (PAD). In the population of people living with DM, PAD is characterised by multi-level atherosclerotic lesions as well as greater involvement of the arteries below the knee. DM is also a factor that significantly increases the risk of lower limb amputation. Percutaneous balloon angioplasty with or without stent implantation is an important method of the treatment for atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases, but restenosis is a factor limiting its long-term effectiveness. The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in the course of DM differs slightly from that in the general population. In the population of people living with DM, more attention is drawn to such factors as inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, platelet dysfunction, blood rheological properties, hypercoagulability, and additional factors stimulating vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. DM is a risk factor for restenosis. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the literature and to present the most important information on the current state of knowledge on mechanisms and the clinical significance of restenosis and in-stent restenosis in patients with DM, especially in association with the endovascular treatment of PAD. The role of such processes as inflammation, neointimal hyperplasia and neoatherosclerosis, allergy, resistance to antimitotic drugs used for coating stents and balloons, genetic factors, and technical and mechanical factors are discussed. The information on restenosis collected in this publication may be helpful in planning further research in this field, which may contribute to the formulation of more and more precise recommendations for the clinical practice.

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is not a homogeneous entity, but this term refers to the coexistence of factors that increase the risk for the development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. There are different versions of the criteria for the diagnosis of MS, which makes the population of patients diagnosed with MS heterogeneous. Research to date shows that MS is associated with oxidative stress (OS), but it is unclear which MS component is most strongly associated with OS. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the parameters of OS and the presence of individual elements of MS in young adults, as well as to identify the components of MS by means of principal components analysis (PCA) and to investigate how the parameters of OS correlate with the presence of individual components. The study included 724 young adults with or without a family history of coronary heart disease (population of the MAGNETIC study). Blood samples were taken from the participants of the study to determine peripheral blood counts, biochemical parameters, and selected parameters of OS. In addition, blood pressure and anthropometric parameters were measured. In subjects with MS, significantly lower activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), copper- and zinc-containing SOD (CuZnSOD), and manganese-containing SOD (MnSOD) were found, along with significantly higher total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and significantly lower concentration of thiol groups per gram of protein (PSH). We identified three components of MS by means of PCA: “Obesity and insulin resistance”, “Dyslipidemia”, and “Blood pressure”, and showed the component “Obesity and insulin resistance” to have the strongest relationship with OS. In conclusion, we documented significant differences in some parameters of OS between young adults with and without MS. We showed that “Obesity and insulin resistance” is the most important component of MS in terms of relationship with OS.

Introduction. Obesity is one of the most important public health problems in the world. Among obese people, there are those who, apart from excessive body weight, do not exhibit other metabolic dysfunctions, have a lower risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and show lower mortality. According to the theory, they are referred as metabolically healthy obese (MHO), in contrast to metabolically unhealthy obese (MUO). Metabolic disturbances occurring with obesity have been well established to be associated with oxidative stress. Aim. The purpose of this study was to analyse the association between selected anthropometric and biochemical parameters with oxidative stress in MHO, MUO, and normal weight young adults. Material and Methods. Individuals with age between 18 and 36 years with no history of chronic diseases and use of medicaments, with or without obesity, participated in the study. Complete blood counts, biochemical measurements, and parameters of oxidative stress such as total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total oxidative status (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI), serum concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA), ceruloplasmin, thiol groups and lipid hydroperoxides (LPH), concentration of lipofuscin (LPS) in erythrocytes, and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured. Results. 422 patients who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. Among the study participants, 208 people (49.29%) were offspring of patients with angiographically confirmed coronary artery disease. Among the participants, 16 patients have been included in the group of metabolically healthy obese (MHO) people and 61 patients in the group of metabolically unhealthy obese (MUO) people and 345 patients had normal body weight. Significant differences between metabolically unhealthy obese and normal weight patients, as well as between women and men, have been found. Conclusions. We showed significant differences in the selected parameters of oxidative stress between metabolically unhealthy obese (MUO) individuals and young volunteers with normal body weight as well as without significant medical history.

There are many discrepancies among the results of studies on the genotoxicity of lead. The aim of the study was to explore lead-induced DNA damage, including oxidative damage, in relation to oxidative stress intensity parameters and the antioxidant defense system in human leukocytes. The study population consisted of 100 male workers exposed to lead. According to the blood lead (PbB) levels, they were divided into the following three subgroups: a group with PbB of 20–35 μg/dL (low exposure to lead (LE) group), a group with a PbB of 35–50 µg/dL (medium exposure to lead (ME) group), and a group with a PbB of >50 μg/dL (high exposure to lead (HE) group). The control group consisted of 42 healthy males environmentally exposed to lead (PbB < 10 μg/dL). A comet assay was used to measure the DNA damage in leukocytes. We measured the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione reductase (GR), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) as well as the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA), and the value of the total antioxidant capacity. The level of PbB was significantly higher in the examined subgroups than in the control group. The percentage of DNA in the tail was significantly higher in the LE, ME, and HE subgroups than in the control group by 10% (p = 0.001), 15% (p < 0.001), and 20% (p < 0.001), respectively. The activity of GR was significantly lower in the LE and ME subgroups than in the control group by 25% (p = 0.007) and 17% (p = 0.028), respectively. The activity of G6PD was significantly lower in the ME subgroup by 25% (p = 0.022), whereas the activity of GST was significantly higher in the HE subgroup by 101% (p = 0.001) than in the control group. Similarly, the activity of SOD was significantly higher in the LE and ME subgroups by 48% (p = 0.026) and 34% (p = 0.002), respectively. The concentration of MDA was significantly higher in the LE, ME, and HE subgroups than in the control group by 43% (p = 0.016), 57% (p < 0.001), and 108% (p < 0.001), respectively. Occupational lead exposure induces DNA damage, including oxidative damage, in human leukocytes. The increase in DNA damage was accompanied by an elevated intensity of oxidative stress.

It is estimated that 2.6 million deaths worldwide can be attributed to hypercholesterolemia. The main reason for non-adherence to statin therapy are the statin-associated muscle symptoms (including nocebo/drucebo effect). In this case, apart from ezetimibe, nutraceuticals are prescribed. We aimed to assess the comparative efficacy of different nutraceuticals in terms of lowering low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and improving lipid profile. Electronic and hand searches were performed until February 2021. The inclusion criteria were the following: (1) randomized trial with any of the reportedly LDL-C lowering nutraceutical: artichoke, berberine, bergamot, garlic, green tea extract, plant sterols/stanols, policosanols, red yeast rice (RYR), silymarin or spirulina. (2) outcome either LDL-C (primary outcome), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) or serum triglycerides (TG). Random effects network meta-analysis (NMA) was performed to rank the effect of each intervention using frequentist approach. Finally, a total of 131 trials enrolling 13,062 participants were included. All analysed nutraceuticals except for policosanols were more effective in lowering LDL-C (-1.21 [-46.8 mg/dL] to -0.17 [-6.6 mg/dL] mmol/l reduction) and TC (-1.75 [-67.7 mg/dL] to -0.18 [7 mg/dL] mmol/l reduction) than placebo/no intervention. The most effective approaches in terms of LDL-C- and TC-lowering were bergamot and RYR (-1.21 [-46.8 mg/dl] and -0.94 [-36.4 mg/dl] mmol/l) reduction respectively. In conclusion, bergamot and RYR appear to be the most effective nutraceuticals in terms of LDL-C and TC reduction. Evidence for bergamot effect was based on relatively small study group and may require further investigations. Policosanols have no effect on the lipid profile.