Oxidative Stress Is Increased in Combined Oral Contraceptives Users and Is Positively Associated with High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein

Information concerning the mechanisms underlying oxidative stress and low-grade inflammation in young healthy women predisposing eventually to future diseases is scarce. We investigated the relationship of oxidative stress and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) in fertile-age women by oral combined contraceptive (OC) use. Caucasian Italian healthy non-obese women (n = 290; 100 OC-users; 190 non-OC-users; mean age 23.2 \ub1 4.7 years) were analyzed. Blood hydroperoxides, as oxidative stress biomarkers, were assessed by Free Oxygen Radical Test (FORT). Serum hsCRP was determined by an ultra-sensitive method (hsCRP). Markedly elevated oxidative stress ( 65400 FORT Units) was found in 77.0% of OC-users and 1.6% of non-OC-users, odds ratio (OR) = 209, 95% CI = 60.9-715.4, p < 0.001. Elevated hsCRP levels 65 2.0 mg/L, considered risky for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), were found in 41.0% of OC-users and 9.5% of non-OC-users, OR = 6.6, 95%CI 3.5-12.4, p < 0.001. Hydroperoxides were strongly positively correlated to hsCRP in all women (rs = 0.622, p < 0.001), in OC-users (rs = 0.442, p < 0.001), and in non-OC-users (rs = 0.426, p < 0.001). Women with hydroperoxides 65 400 FORT Units were eight times as likely to have hsCRP 65 2 mg/L. In non-OC-users only, hydroperoxides values were positively correlated with weight and body mass index, but negatively correlated with red meat, fish and chocolate consumption. Our research is the first finding a strong positive correlation of serum hydroperoxides with hsCRP, a marker of low-grade chronic inflammation, in young healthy women. Further research is needed to elucidate the potential role of these two biomarkers in OC-use associated side-effects, like thromboembolism and other CVDs

Model theory of finite and pseudofinite groups

This is a survey, intended both for group theorists and model theorists, concerning the structure of pseudofinite groups, that is, infinite models of the first-order theory of finite groups. The focus is on concepts from stability theory and generalisations in the context of pseudofinite groups, and on the information this might provide for finite group theory

Reconstruction of classical geometries from their automorphism group

Let V be a countably infinite-dimensional vector space over a finite field F. Then V is omega-categorical, and so are the projective space PG(V) and the projective symplectic, unitary and orthogonal spaces on V. Using a reconstruction method developed by Rubin, we prove the following result: let M be one of the above spaces, and let N be an omega-categorical structure such that Aut(M) and Aut(N) are isomorphic as abstract groups. Then M and N are bi-interpretable. We also give a reconstruction result for the affine group AGL(V) acting on V by proving that V as an affine space is interpretable in AGL(V)

A viewpoint on amalgamation classes

We provide a self-contained introduction to the classical theory of universal-homogeneous models (also known as generic structures, rich models, or Fraïssé limits). In the literature, most treatments restrict consideration to embeddings among finite structures. This is not suitable for some applications. We take the notion of morphisms as primitive and we allow structures to have arbitrary cardinality

Model theory of Steiner triple systems

A Steiner triple system (STS) is a set S together with a collection a of subsets of S of size 3 such that any two elements of S belong to exactly one element of a. It is well known that the class of finite STS has a Fraïssé limit MF. Here, we show that the theory TSqa - of MF is the model completion of the theory of STSs. We also prove that TSqa - is not small and it has quantifier elimination, TP2, NSOP1, elimination of hyperimaginaries and weak elimination of imaginaries

Generic expansions of countable models

We compare two different notions of generic expansions of countable saturated structures. One kind of genericity is related to existential closure, and another is defined via topological properties and Baire category theory. The second type of genericity was first formulated by Truss for automorphisms. We work with a later generalization, due to Ivanov, to finite tuples of predicates and functions. Let N be a countable saturated model of some complete theory T, and let (N, σ) denote an expansion of N to the signature L0 which is a model of some universal theory T0. We prove that when all existentially closed models of T0 have the same existential theory, (N, σ) is Truss generic if and only if (N, σ) is an e-atomic model. When T is ω-categorical and T0 has a model companion T mc, the e-atomic models are simply the atomic models of T mc. © 2012 by University of Notre Dame