Biomedical subjects

Jung-Fu Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Jung-Fu Chen.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Correlation between serum lipid, lipoprotein concentrations and anxious state, depressive state or major depressive disorder.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between serum lipid, lipoprotein concentrations and anxious state, depressive state or major depressive disorder. A total of 207 patients admitted for general health screening were recruited during a 1-year period. Using the Chinese Health Questionnaire, the Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire and the semi-structured clinical interview for DSM-IV, one psychiatrist screened all participants for the presence of anxiety or depressive disorders. Blood samples for serum lipid and lipoprotein concentrations and physical examination records were collected simultaneously. For patients who did not have systemic diseases (n=162), we found that high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and the ratio of total cholesterol (TC)/HDL differed significantly among anxious state, depressive state and normal groups in men after age adjustment. On the other hand, the ratios of TC/HDL and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)/HDL showed significant differences between patients with major depressive disorder and normal controls in women. This study suggested that the level of HDL cholesterol and the ratios of TC/HDL and LDL/HDL (atherogenic index) might be another markers of the possible association between serum lipids and anxiety or depression.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Serum leptin concentrations of patients with sequential thyroid function changes.

BACKGROUND: Leptin, a recently discovered protein produced in adipocytes, regulates body weight by suppressing food intake and/or increasing energy expenditure. Thyroid hormones, which increase the basal metabolic rate and thermogenesis, have been reported to be one of leptin's regulating factors because alternations in thyroid status might lead to compensatory changes in circulating leptin. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the influence of sequential changes in thyroid function on serum leptin levels. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The thyroid function status of 65 patients (55 women and 10 men, aged 40.6 +/- 15.2 years, mean +/- SD) with differentiated thyroid cancer who had received near-total thyroidectomy was studied before I-131 ablation therapy and after 2-4 and 6 months of levo-thyroxine suppressive therapy. Thirty-three (26 women, seven men; aged 41.0 +/- 10.4 years, mean +/- SD) of them were found to have become hypothyroid, then euthyroid and subsequently subclinically hyperthyroid. Their body mass index (BMI), body fat (%BF) by electrical bioimpedance, thyroid function and fasting serum leptin in these states were assessed and compared to those of 38 controls (30 women, eight men, aged 40.2 +/- 11.3 years, mean +/- SD). The controls had no past history or family history of thyroid diseases, and had the same range of BMI, between 20 and 30 kg/m2, as the patients. RESULTS: No difference in serum leptin levels was found between patients and controls with comparable age, sex, and BMI distribution in the euthyroid state. Using a repeated measures anova, tests of TSH, free T4 (FT4), BMI,%BF and leptin were performed on the 33 patients with sex as a grouping factor and thyroid state as a time factor. The sex difference for %BF and leptin proved to be statistically significant (P < 0.0001, and P = 0.0003, respectively). Serum leptin levels increased significantly from the hypothyroid to the subclinical hyperthyroid state (P < 0.0001) with a more pronounced increase found in females than in males (P = 0.03). Change of BMI during sequential thyroid function alterations was significant (P = 0.04) while change in %BF was not significant (P = 0.09). Pearson correlation analysis showed that serum leptin levels significantly correlated with BMI, %BF, FT4, and TSH (all P < 0.05). Using the generalized estimating equations, multivariate regression analysis revealed that FT4 was a statistically independent predictor for serum leptin (P < 0.0001). While other parameters were held constant, the mean serum leptin level increased by 1.47 units when serum FT4 was increased by one unit. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our data indicate that circulating thyroid hormone plays a relevant role in regulating leptin metabolism independent of BMI and body fat.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Relative impact of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol concentration and insulin resistance on carotid wall thickening in nondiabetic, normotensive volunteers.

The relative effect of an increase in low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) concentration, as compared with insulin resistance and its manifestations, on intimal medial thickening (IMT) of the common carotid artery was defined in 72 healthy men and women. Insulin-mediated glucose disposal was quantified by the insulin suppression tests, in which the height of the steady-state plasma glucose (SSPG) concentration during the last 30 minutes of a 180-minute infusion of octreotide, insulin, and glucose provides an estimate of insulin resistance. IMT was determined by high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography. Univariate analyses defined statistically significant correlation coefficients between IMT and LDL-C concentration (r =.25, P <.05), SSPG concentration (r =.32, P <.01), triglycerides (TG) (r =.25, P <.05), and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) (r = -.28, P <.05) concentrations (changes associated with insulin resistance) and ratio of waist-to-hip girth (r =.29, P <.05). When forward step-wise linear regression analysis was used, concentrations of SSPG, LDL-C and HDL-C all emerged as independent predictors of IMT (P <.05). Furthermore, the magnitude of their relationship to IMT values was comparable. These results provide evidence that insulin resistance is as significant a predictor of degree of atherogenesis (estimated by IMT) of the common carotid artery as a high LDL-C concentration.

Adult↗