Acknowledgements

This study was carried out at the Department of Internal Medicine and Biocenter Oulu, the University of Oulu. I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Antero Kesäniemi, M.D., Ph.D., who suggested this topic to me, provided me with the facilities to carry out the work at the scientific laboratory of the Department, and skilfully guided me throughout the project.

I am grateful to Docent Timo Strandberg, M.D., Ph.D., and Docent Hannu Vanhanen, M.D., Ph.D., for their constructive criticism and useful remarks during the preparation of the manuscript.

I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Markku Savolainen, M.D., Ph.D., for his collaboration, invaluable advice and patience. Docent Kari Kervinen, M.D., Ph.D. and Markku Linnaluoto M.Sc. are gratefully acknowledged for their help and advice in data processing. I also want to thank all my co-workers and colleagues in the Department of Internal Medicine and the scientific laboratory of the Department, with special thanks to Dr Sohvi Hörkkö, M.D., Ph.D., Dr Anna Karjalainen, Dr Maire Rantala, Dr Heikki Kauma, M.D., Ph.D., Dr Asko Rantala and Dr Minna Hannuksela M.D., Ph.D. I want to thank Docent Kaisa Huttunen, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Pirjo Koistinen, M.D., Ph.D., and Docent Anneli Poukkula, M.D., Ph.D. for their non-lipidological support.

I acknowledge the excellent technical assistance of Ms. Saija Kortetjärvi, Ms. Marja-Leena Kytökangas, Ms. Raija Tolkkinen, Ms. Anna-Riitta Malinen, Ms. Tiina Lapinkari, Ms. Sari Pyrhönen, Ms. Eila Saarikoski, Ms. Helena Kalliokoski, Ms. Riitta Vanhanen and Ms. Anne Salovaara.

I wish to thank Ms. Sirkka-Liisa Leinonen for the skilful revision of the English language of the manuscript.

Finally, I would like to thank my family for their support.

This work was supported by grants from the Medical Council of the Academy of Finland and the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, the Finnish Heart Foundation and the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation.