Chlamydia pneumoniae has been found to be associated with cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases in seroepidemiologic studies. The aim of this study was to investigate whether this organism is associated with increased intima media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries in asymptomatic individuals. Serum titer of antibodies to C pneumoniae antibodies IgA ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence and pattern of arterial calcification in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). BACKGROUND: Patients with RA are prone to premature atherosclerosis; nonetheless the prevalence and extent of atherosclerosis in different vascular beds and their relationship to each other remain unknown. METHODS: We studied the distribution and ...

BACKGROUND: The risk of cardiovascular disease in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients is an increasing concern. We studied the changes in vascular properties after the initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) as well as the contribution of different drug classes. METHODS: cART-naive men were randomized to receive either lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) ...

Signs of plaque inflammation in carotid arteries may serve as a window to the entire cardiovascular system, to identify "vulnerable" patients. Moreover, flow-mediated vasodilation in the brachial artery and intima media thickness (IMT) in the carotid artery could represent a surrogate diagnostic method for assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD) ...

AIM: We attempted to explore interactions between smoking and the genetic polymorphism of 24 atherosclerosis-related candidate genes in systemic atherosclerosis. METHODS: The study comprised 1,503 consecutive autopsy cases. The male-to-female ratio was 1.16 and the average age at death was 80.3 years. Seventy percent of men and 22% of women ...

PURPOSE: The primary objective was to evaluate the prevalence of atherosclerotic disease, myocardial infarctions, and cerebrovascular disease in patients with long-standing diabetes using whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) combined with whole-body magnetic resonance angiography (WB-MRA) and to estimate the cumulative disease burden in a new MRA-based score. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ...

Arterial stiffness is a prominent feature of vascular aging and is strongly related to cardiovascular disease. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL), a key player in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, may also play a role in arterial stiffening, but this relationship has not been well studied. Thus, we examined the cross-sectional association ...

OBJECTIVES: Atherosclerosis can obstruct branching arteries of the abdominal aorta, including four paired lumbar arteries and the middle sacral artery that feed the lumbar spine. The diminished blood flow could result in various back problems. The aim of this systematic literature review was to assess associations between atherosclerosis and disc ...

Arterial thrombosis occurs in atherosclerotic, but rarely in non-atherosclerotic arteries. The present study investigates how hyperlipidemic condition affects thrombus formation on macrophage-rich neointima or normal intima in rabbits. Rabbits were fed with a 0.5% cholesterol diet, and then the femoral artery on one side of each rabbit was injured with ...

Arterial medial calcification is a major complication in patients with chronic kidney disease and is a strong predictor of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. We sought to determine the role of dietary phosphorus and the severity of uremia on vascular calcification in calcification-prone DBA/2 mice. Severe and moderate uremia was induced ...

Arterial stiffness is an independent predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) are considered as novel biomarkers that are useful in the prediction of early cardiovascular risk. We studied the relationship between carotid artery stiffness index beta and the cardiovascular biomarkers BNP ...

BACKGROUND: Both high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs- CRP) and spiral computed tomography coronary artery calcium score (CCS) are valid markers of cardiovascular risk. It is unknown whether hs-CRP is a marker of atherosclerotic burden or if it reflects a process leading to acute coronary events. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied the ...

BACKGROUND: Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, a member of the MMP superfamily is consistently implicated in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and plaque rupture, the most common mechanism responsible for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). AIM: To summarize the role of MMP-9 in atherosclerosis and its potential implications in assessment and treatment of coronary ...

AIMS: The clinical implications of stiffness of the carotid artery (CA) have not been fully clarified in the prediction of coronary artery disease (CAD), although intima-media thickness (IMT) has been established as a surrogate marker. We examined the associations of stiffness parameter beta (ST) and IMT with concurrent CAD. METHODS: ...

OBJECTIVES: To study lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] levels in Saudi patients with angiographically defined coronary artery disease and to see its relationship with its severity and diffuseness. METHODS: This cross sectional study was carried out at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2006-2007. One hundred and forty-seven individuals with coronary ...

BACKGROUND: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with premature atherosclerosis and increased arterial stiffness. The QPV interval has been proposed as a measure of arterial stiffness. The QPV interval is based on the premise that transit time from cardiac ejection to brachial artery flow is shortened in patients with increased ...

In addition to intima-media thickness (IMT), IMT inhomogeneity may carry information about atherosclerosis progression. In 147 vascular diseased patients (mean 66 y, 48% male), we determined the carotid bulb stenosis degree based on local Doppler blood flow velocities. Common carotid artery (CCA) morphologic characteristics, i.e. IMT, IMT-inhomogeneity (intraregistration variation) and ...

BACKGROUND: We previously reported the arterial elasticity value we measured to reflect the characteristic features of vessel walls, and to possibly be useful for detecting early stage atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes. Obesity, especially visceral adiposity, is well known to play a crucial role in the development of metabolic disorders ...

Low circulating levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular events. HDL-C has a variety of poorly understood atheroprotective effects, including altering lipid metabolism and reducing inflammation. Increased arterial stiffness is an important predictor of subsequent cardiovascular risk. Therefore, in this study, we sought to ...

Patients with autoimmune diseases may have increased vascular risk leading to higher mortality rates. Novel imaging techniques are necessary for the early assessment and management of these patients. In this study, we compared augmentation index (AIx) and pulse wave velocity (PWV), indicators of arterial stiffness, to brachial arterial flow-mediated vasodilation ...

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is well-recognized, angiographic finding of abnormal coronary dilatation. The role of inflammation in atherosclerosis is increasingly well known. However, the association between inflammation and CAE has been controversial. METHOD: Fifty-five patients with CAE and non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), 38 with obstructive CAD, and 33 ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Higher phosphorus levels are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and mortality. Whether vascular stiffness may be responsible is unknown. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: This study examined the cross-sectional associations of serum phosphorus with ankle brachial index (ABI), pulse pressure, and large and small artery elasticity ...

OBJECTIVES: HIV-infected patients using combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) have an increased cardiovascular risk. We aimed to identify the effects of HIV, ART, and lipodystrophy (LD) on carotid artery intima-media thickness (C-IMT), a surrogate measure of atherosclerosis, and arterial stiffness, a marker of cardiovascular risk. DESIGN: Case-control study of 77 HIV-infected ...

BACKGROUND: Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is a method for the assessment of intermediate lesions. The impact of lesions at other coronary arteries on the FFR is not clear. We aimed to investigate the impact of the lesions in the other coronary arteries on FFR measurement. METHOD: FFR was performed in ...

OBJECTIVES: We sought to develop a noninvasive technique to quantify the thickness of a segment of the carotid artery wall that incorporates the adventitia and to identify whether differences in this measure are associated with cardiovascular risk factors. BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that the arterial adventitia undergoes extensive structural ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess arterial stiffness in a cohort of hypogonadal males and to investigate the effect of testosterone replacement therapy on arterial properties in this specific group. DESIGN: Eighteen male patients with untreated acquired hypogonadism due to either adult-onset idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (n=9) or pituitary tumor (n=9) and 12 age-, ...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: To evaluate the prevalence of subclinical cardiovascular (CV) abnormalities in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) stratified according to SLE-related organ damage using the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) damage index. METHODS AND RESULTS: We selected SLE patients without clinically overt CV events (n=45, 56% with SLICC=0, 44% ...

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease in dialysis patients is associated with increased vascular calcification (VC) and arterial stiffness, both inversely correlated with bone mineral density (BMD). Few studies have correlated VC in the dialysis population with measurements of BMD and arterial compliance. METHODS: We report cross-sectional data on 45 haemodialysis (HD) patients ...

1. Recently, we have demonstrated that cigarette smoke exposure proportionally increases plasma nicotine levels and arterial wave reflection to the aorta. However, the exact contribution of nicotine to the smoke-induced enhancement of wave reflection and the potential underlying mechanisms have not been fully investigated. 2. The present study was a ...

BACKGROUND: The role of Chlamydia pneumoniae in peripheral atherosclerosis disease and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) remains unclear. Chlamydial lipopolysaccharide (cLPS) detection is a method used conventionally in routine chlamydial diagnosis of gynecological or ophthalmic samples. METHODS: We compared cLPS concentrations, as well as other markers of bacterial load, in plaques ...

BACKGROUND: Increased arterial intima-media thickness (IMT) and coronary artery calcification (CAC) are measures of subclinical arteriosclerosis burden. Little is known, however, whether risk factors have an impact differently on atherosclerosis in these distinct vascular territories in the same individuals. METHODS AND DESIGN: For 1620 men without coronary artery disease (CAD) ...

Vascular remodeling may be a mechanism linking chronic kidney disease to cardiovascular disease. Whether early kidney dysfunction is associated with small and large arterial remodeling is not well understood. Using multivariable linear regression, back-transforming beta-coefficients to relative difference, the authors studied the association of cystatin C, creatinine-based estimated glomerular filtration ...

After reviewing the general characteristics of lipids (LDL-C, VLDL-C, HDL-C) and atherothrombosis, including the I-VIII degrees of its histopathological arterial lesions (with contributions of J. E. Edwards and R. Virmani), the authors described the P. Libby's data on lipoprotein-associated phospholipaseA2 (Lp-PLA2) and its two inflammatory mediators: lysophosphatidylcholine and oxidized nonesterified ...

BACKGROUND: Non-invasive detection of atherosclerosis is critical for its prevention. OBJECTIVE: To correlate non-invasively detectable indicators of coronary atherosclerosis, or Coronary Artery Disease (i.e., classical risk factors, hs-CRP test results, carotid intima-media thickness, endothelial function, ankle-brachial index and calcium score by computed tomography) with the extent of coronary disease assessed ...

Arterial stiffness plays a key role in the pathophysiology of the cardiovascular system. Some indices of arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity, augmentation index, characteristics of central blood pressure waveform) may be presently calculated and evaluated in the clinical setting. Age and blood pressure are the two major clinical determinants of ...

BACKGROUND: Case-control Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the 9p21 locus as risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). The locus does not contain a clear candidate gene. Hence, the results of GWAS have raised an intense interest in delineating the basis for the observed ...

BACKGROUND: Microalbuminuria, traditionally defined as 30-300 mg urinary albumin/24 h, predicts renal impairment and cardiovascular disease. Studies suggest that also a far lower urinary albumin excretion (UAE) can predict clinical outcome. Intima media thickness (IMT) is an established estimate of atherosclerosis. In this study, we investigated the predictive value of ...

OBJECTIVE: To compare common carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) between the two major Brazilian ethnic groups (those of African descent and those of European descent) among individuals with one or more risk factors for atherosclerotic disease. METHOD: Two hundred and six patients with one or more risk factors for atherosclerotic disease ...

To assess the significant association of atherosclerosis quantified by screening intima media thickness of bilateral common and internal carotid arteries in patients with asymptomatic and persistent hypertension with and without ischemic stroke. Subjects in this investigation were recruited from the vascular Doppler unit at Baghdad Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Recent information has highlightened the impact of HA metabolism alterations in vascular permeability through its actions on endothelial glycocalyx and the importance of HA-cell interactions in cell behavior of arterial endothelial and smooth muscle cells. Therefore hyaluronan is thought to involve in pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. The aim ...

BACKGROUND: Patients on peritoneal and hemodialysis have accelerated atherosclerosis associated with an increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The atherosclerosis is associated with increased arterial stiffness, endothelial dysfunction and elevated oxidative stress and inflammation. The aims of this study are to investigate the effects of peritoneal and hemodialysis on arterial ...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prototypical autoimmune disease that is atherogenic. Decreased arterial distensibility (AD) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and this precursor may be associated with SLE. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that patients with SLE will have significantly (p < 0.05) decreased AD when compared ...

Calcific aortic stenosis (AS) is an atherosclerosis-related process and the most common cause of valve disease requiring surgery. To assess the association of inflammatory markers with AS in advanced atherosclerosis. Consecutive patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) associated with AS were prospectively identified (mean transvalvular aortic gradient of 30 mmHg ...

To determine whether pulse wave velocity (PWV) as a measure of arterial stiffness is a marker of coronary artery diseases (CAD), the authors did a cross-sectional study in 92 patients undergoing coronary angiography for suspected CAD. Arterial stiffness was assessed through recording PWV from the left carotid-right femoral arteries using ...

Arterial stiffness is a powerful predictor of cardiovascular outcome in various patient groups as well as in general population, and can directly accelerate the atherosclerotic process. Arterial stiffness is regulated by numerous factors. Traditionally, mean arterial pressure and structural changes in the components of arterial wall were thought to be ...

BACKGROUND: Since cardiovascular diseases are associated with high mortality and generally undiagnosed before the onset of clinical findings, there is a need for a reliable tool for early diagnosis. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) is a non-invasive marker of coronary artery disease (CAD) and is widely used in practice as an ...

Cholesterol levels and not inflammatory markers are the major variables that pose a risk of coronary artery disease. Diabetes greatly increases the risk at any cholesterol level. Coronary artery disease and cancer are linked by a common protein - an apoptotic protein that also functions as a regulator of insulin ...

PURPOSE: Several studies have shown arterial stiffness changes associated with coronary artery disease (CAD). Recently, statins were reported to improve arterial stiffness. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of atorvastatin on arterial stiffness in CAD patients using pulse wave velocity (PWV). METHODS: We evaluated 63 patients ...

BACKGROUND: It has been shown that microalbuminuria is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in diabetics, hypertensive patients and in the general population. However, few data has addressed the correlation of microalbuminuria with the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD). The aim of the study was to assess the ...

Carotid artery intima-media thickness measured by ultrasound has been shown to be correlated with the presence of cardiovascular disease and is now accepted and used as a surrogate marker for atherosclerotic disease, an important organ damage of hypercholesterolemia. In particular, statins reduce ischemic heart disease, improve endothelial function, reduce pro-inflammatory ...