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Lipids and Coronary Heart Disease

Terms List

Autosomal Dominant - This term refers to a characteristic coded for by the non-sex chromosomes which is expressed in an organism whether the alleles are the same or different.

Bile Acids - Alkaline fluid secreted by the liver and responsible for emulsification of lipids, thereby facilitating digestion

Developed World - A necessarily vague term used to describe countries with employment patterns, diet, activity profiles, and other features characteristic of post-industrial economies such as are found in Western Europe and North America

Heterozygous - When a pair of genes determining a particular characteristic are different from each other, we describe the individual in which the genes occur as "heterozygous"

High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol - The major plasma lipoproteins are separated and identified by physical properties (size and density) following ultracentrifugation

Homozygous - When both members of a pair of genes are the same, they are "homozygous."

Hyperlipidemia - The presence of abnormally high concentrations of fats in the blood

Myopathy - Any disease of the muscles; myopathy secondary to HMG CoA reductase inhibitors is characterized by muscular discomfort, stiffness, and weakness

Nephrotic Syndrome - A condition characterized by abnormal loss of proteins in the urine, resulting in reduced levels of serum proteins, including albumin, and causing generalized swelling

Prevalent - A disease or characteristic's "prevalence" refers to the number of individuals with that disease or characteristic at a certain point in time

Phenotype - The "phenotype" of an organism refers to an observable characteristic resulting from the complex interaction between genes and the environment; in contrast, an organism's "genotype" is its set of genes as they exist in the DNA--not as they are expressed.

Saturated Fats - Saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids are defined by common biochemical structural elements--specifically, the number of double bonds in their molecular structure

Sequela - A disease or disorder that is caused by a preceding disease in the same individual

Serum - The fluid that separates from clotted blood; serum is similar in composition to plasma, but lacks fibrinogen and other substances that are used in the coagulation process

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