A sample of venous blood was obtained from each individual after 8 to 12 h of fasting and within 15 min before the assessment of vascular function. The blood was collected in four 9 mL tubes of a VACUETTE® Z Serum Clot Activator (Greiner Bio-One GmbH, Kremsmuenster, Austria). The tubes were incubated for 30 min at room temperature and subsequently centrifuged at 1800× g for 10 min at 4 °C. Total cholesterol, HDL-C, triglycerides, and CRP were measured by using the Cobas c system (Roche Diagnostics, Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan) and LDL-C was calculated using Friedewald’s formula [58 (link)]. Other routine laboratory analyses, including serum glucose, total protein, albumin, bilirubin, ALT, AST, AP, GGT, LDH, CK, creatinine, urea, urate, sodium, potassium, and chloride, were measured using Cobas 8000 (Roche Diagnostics, Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan). eGFR was calculated according to Levey et al. [59 (link)]. EL serum levels were measured using a Human EL-Assay Kit (TaKaRa, Takara Bio Europe S.A.S., Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France), as described previously [17 (link)]. IL-6 was quantified by electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay using the Cobas e801 system (Roche Diagnostics, Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan).
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