Lipids and Coronary Heart Disease

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