Winter 2013 2014 LipidSpin Articles | National Lipid Association Online

Matthew K. Ito, PharmD, CLS, FNLA	From the NLA President: My First Six Months It has been a busy—and rewarding—six months since I took over as President of the NLA. It is extremely gratifying to see so many projects that were discussed in the Board’s Strategic Plan taking shape. In our efforts to streamline processes and refine our organizational structure, we created three Councils, each managed by a Board officer. Every Council has a number of Committees that fall under it, and the Committee Chairs now have a better process for funneling... more
JAMES A. UNDERBERG, MD, MS, FACPM, FACP, FNLA	From the NELA President: Time Flies When You Are Having Fun It is with great pride and excitement that I compose this chapter message. Conveniently, this issue of Lipid Spin falls midway through my year as President of NELA, and therefore provides a perfect opportunity to update you on where we are, and where we are going. The summer months were a time of planning, both for our NELA/SELA CLU in Baltimore in mid-September and for our community outreach project in early September. I am pleased to say that both were great successes. The Baltimore... more
EDWARD GOLDENBERG, MD, FACC, FNLA	Letter From the Lipid Spin Editors: Let’s Not Confuse Health Care Cost and Health Let’s not confuse health care cost and health. Health care cost is the amount of money spent predominantly for the diagnosis and treatment of people with an acute illness or a chronic disease. The cost is related to the number of encounters and the cost per encounter. It is estimated that one third of health care costs are related to unnecessary care. The Affordable Care Act is aimed at improving the efficiency of the system, providing higher quality of care at a lower cost and... more
KENNETH A. KELLICK, PharmD, CLS, FNLA	Clinical Feature: New Pharmacologic Approaches to Obesity Changed lifestyles and diet have been associated with the current obesity epidemic. Pharmacologic interventions date back to the Greco-Roman era when laxatives coupled with exercise and other modalities to facilitate weight loss were prescribed or used. Many still remember the use of the following medications: thyroid hormone, amphetamines, digitalis, diuretics and dinitrophenol. These were early 20^th century options. Phentermine was approved in 1959 by the U.S. Food and Drug... more
VINAY R. HOSMANE, MD, MPH, FASE, FACC VIVEK K. REDDY, MD	Guest Editorial: Atherosclerosis in the Indian Population Upon hearing the words "Atherosclerosis and Indians," the following key points and definitions come to mind: 1. South Asia comprises Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Indians comprise 85% of this group in the U.S.¹ Often, these groups are investigated together in large studies. 2. The Coronary Artery Disease in Asians Indians (CADI) research project: Groundbreaking research begun in the 1990s is a must... more
WAHIDA KARMALLY, Dr.PH, RD, CDE, CLS, FNLA	EBM Tools for Practice: Weight Management: Evidence-Based Nutrition Strategies Introduction: Obesity is a complex multifactoral chronic disease that develops from an interaction between genetics and the environment. The development of obesity involves the integration of social, behavioral, cultural, physiological, metabolic and genetic factors. Treatment of obesity should be based on a comprehensive weightmanagement program to produce weight loss, prevent further weight gain and maintain weight loss over a prolonged period. Overweight is... more
EUGENIA GIANOS, MD JOAQUIN CARRAL, MD	Lipid Luminations: PREDIMED Commentary The recently published PREDIMED trial is a landmark study assessing the efficacy of a dietary intervention in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The authors used a parallel group design and randomized subjects from multiple centers in Spain. Subjects were men ages 55 to 80 and women ages 60 to 80, with either diabetes or three or more risk factors for coronary artery disease, without diagnosed coronary heart disease at baseline. The subjects were randomized to one of... more
EDWARD GOLDENBERG, MD, FACC, FNLA JAYA BATHINA, MD	Specialty Corner: The Adipocyte: Friend or Foe? Multicellular organisms depend on two central mechanisms for their survival: the ability to store energy to prevent starvation and the ability to fight infection. Adipocytes in higher organisms are reminiscent of the integrated function seen in lower organisms such as the fat body of the Drosophila melanogaster that comprises adipose tissue (AT), liver and immunologic cells in one unit Human adipose tissue is composed of energy-storage adipocytes as well as connective tissue matrix, vascular... more
RUCHI PRASAD, MD DEAN G. KARALIS, MD, FACC, FNLA	Practical Pearls: Can Smartphones Help Our Patients Lose Weight? Your 9 a.m. appointment walks in. He’s an overweight executive who tells you that he has been trying to lose weight, but he does not have the time to go to the gym or prepare healthy meals. But sitting in front of you during the office visit, he fields two phone calls, fires off three text messages to colleagues and pulls up his calendar to schedule a follow-up appointment. This type of behavior is not uncommon. Smartphones are revolutionizing the way we live our lives. The question is... more
DANIEL SOFFER, MD, FNLA DANIELLE DUFFY, MD FRAN BURKE, MS, RD JOYCE ROSS, MSN, CRNP/CCS, FPCNA, CLS, FNLA	Case Study: Childhood Adiposopathy Unmasks Type III Hyperlipoproteinemia We report the case of a young girl who presented with classic type III hyperlipoproteinemia to emphasize the importance of clarifying the lipid diagnoses, to illustrate the key features of this uncommon condition, and to demonstrate the potency of non-pharmacologic therapy in improving both lipoprotein parameters and body morphology. Case Presentation JF was referred to our preventive cardiology clinic by a dermatologist at neighboring Children’s... more
LINDA C. HEMPHILL, MD, FACC, FNLA	Chapter Update: NELA’s Past and Vision for the Future "Strive not to be a success but rather to be of value." – Albert Einstein The Northeast Lipid Association’s past cannot be understood without discussing the origins and rationale of the "mother ship" – the National Lipid Association. In 1994, the "cholesterol hypothesis" became evidence-based fact with the release of the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study results at the American Heart Association meetings in Dallas. For... more
DAVID M. CAPUZZI, MD, PhD, FNLA, FACP, FACE	Member Spotlight: David M. Capuzzi, MD, PhD, FNLA, FACP, FACE David Capuzzi, MD, PhD, FNLA currently works with the cardiology group at the Lankenau Medical Center (Main Line Health) as an advisor to the cardiovascular disease prevention program, where he participates in clinical research and the cardiology fellows training program. Dr. Capuzzi values this opportunity to educate other physicians and physicians in training in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and related disorders. He has always been interested in clinical... more
ANNE C. GOLDBERG, MD, FNLA	Foundation Update I am pleased to give you an update on several successful initiatives by the Foundation of the National Lipid Association in the past months. As you know, in keeping with the Foundation's mission to educate clinicians (as well as the lay public), the Foundation of the NLA supported and sponsored a public awareness campaign about familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) that was launched August 30, 2013, to coincide with National Cholesterol Education Month for September. You can still... more