Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0004153 (atherosclerosis)
 77,401 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

To clarify the clinical usefulness of the second derivative of the waveform of the fingertip photoplethysmogram (SDPTG), we examined the relationship between the pattern of the SDPTG waveform and risk factors related to atherosclerosis in 1,495 boys and girls aged 9-17 years. The fingertip photoplethysmogram and its second derivative wave were automatically recorded from the second digit of the right hand with the subjects lying in a supine position. The SDPTG waveform consisted of a, b, c and d waves in systole and an e wave in diastole. The heights of the a and d waves were measured from the baseline, and the ratio of the height of the d wave to that of the a wave (d/a ratio) was calculated. The d/a ratio had a negative correlation with the systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressures (DBP), atherogenic index (AI) and immunoreactive insulin concentrations (IRI) after adjustment for age. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the d/a ratio was associated more with body height than the risk factors for atherosclerosis in boys and girls at the growth period. The effect of sex- and height-specific cutoff values of the 10th percentile for the d/a ratio was therefore tested. The results showed that subjects with d/a ratios lower than the 10th percentile had significantly higher SBP, DBP, AI and IRI values compared to those with higher d/a ratios. These findings suggest that differences in the length of the vascular system, which are related to increases in body height, may modify the SDPTG waveform pattern during adolescence. When the body height as well as age and sex is adequately allowed for, the d/a ratio may be useful for the evaluation of arterial distensibility and for identification of individuals at an increased risk of developing atherosclerosis.
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PMID:Noninvasive assessment of arterial distensibility in adolescents using the second derivative of photoplethysmogram waveform. 1182 70

The aim of the study was to evaluate risk factors of atherosclerosis and extra-cerebral target organ damage in patients with hypertension and vascular based mild memory disorders. A group of the study included 20 persons at age of 54-75 (8 males and 12 females) with mild vascular dementia (20-25 pts in MMSE, 22.8 +/- 1.73) with treated mild hypertension. A diagnosis of vascular dementia was confirmed in MRI by two independent experts. All examined patients presented multiinfarction changes in central nervous system as a cause of dementia. The study protocol contained present history, physical examination, 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), ECG, biochemical tests: total cholesterol, HDL-Ch, LDL-Ch, triglycerides, glucose, urea, creatinine plasma levels and urine test for microalbuminuria. In part of the study group (55%) echocardiography with posterior wall (PW) thickness and ejection fraction (EF) evaluation was performed. In the analysed group mean 24-hour blood pressure values were not elevated (SBP 130.8 +/- 15.8 mm Hg and DBP 77.6 +/- 9.2 mm Hg at day, respectively 121.6 +/- 17.1 mm Hg and 68.2 +/- 11.6 mm Hg at night). No significant (> 10%) nocturnal SBP decrease was observed, however DBP fall was noticed. Either total cholesterol (n < 5.2 mmol/l) or LDL-Ch (n < 3.5 mmol/l) plasma levels were increased in patients with vascular dementia and ranged respectively 5.8 +/- 0.9 and 3.7 +/- 0.9 mmol/l, HDL-Ch and triglycerides levels remained normal (respectively 1.7 +/- 0.5 and 1.5 +/- 1.1 mmol/l). Mean urea and creatinine levels were maintained in normal range (urea 5.8 +/- 1.7 mmol/l, creatinine 75.5 +/- 15.1 mumol/l). In a part of study group (35%) microalbuminuria was presented (urine albumine > 20 mg/l). In majority of patients with hypertension and vascular dementia a few risk factors co-existed. No systolic blood pressure decrease observed at night in 24-hour blood pressure monitoring, though normal mean values, can play an important role in vascular abnormalities progression.
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PMID:[Vascular dementia and systemic changes]. 1218 86

The role of endogenous sex steroids in the association between male gender and cardiovascular risk remains unclear. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the role of endogenous testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2), as well as their respective biologically active fractions, in the determination of lipids and lipoproteins in an occupation-based cohort of 715 healthy middle-aged men. Serum T, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and E(2) were measured by immunoassays; free T (FT) and free E2 (FE2) were calculated using a validated equation. Serum total cholesterol (Chol), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-Chol), apolipoproteins A1 (ApoA1), B (ApoB), E (ApoE), ApoE phenotype, lipoprotein a (Lpa), fibrinogen, C-reactive protein (CRP), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were assessed. Serum levels of T and FT, correlated positively with HDL-Chol and ApoA1 with Spearman correlation coefficients, partialised for age and body mass index (BMI), ranging between 0.14 and 0.17 (P<0.001); FT was associated with total Chol and ApoB levels (r=0.12 for both T and FT; P<0.01). After adjustment for age and BMI, both serum E2 and FE2 levels correlated significantly with ApoE (r=0.25 and r=0.26 for E2 and FE2, respectively; P<0.001). Free and total E2 were associated with both SBP and DBP with correlation coefficients partialised for age and BMI ranging between 0.11 and 0.13 (P<0.01). No correlation was found between any of the studied sex steroids, fibrinogen, Lpa or CRP. In multiple linear regression analyses, T was the most important independent hormonal determinant of HDL-Chol levels, when E2, SHBG and exogenous factors were considered in the model (P<0.01), whereas E2 contributed mostly in the determination of ApoE levels (P<0.001) and SBP (P<0.01). When FT and FE2 were considered in multivariate analyses as independent hormonal variables, FT was the most significant predictor of HDL-Chol (P<0.01) and ApoB (P<0.01) concentrations. Moreover, in the same multivariate model, ApoE (P<0.001) concentration as well as SBP (P<0.001) was most affected by FE2 levels in comparison with FT. In conclusion, our findings do suggest a differential role of T and E2 in the determination of traditional cardiovascular risk factors in healthy middle-aged men. In the determination of both HDL-Chol and ApoB levels endogenous (F)T may be involved, whereas (F)E2 may contribute to the determination of ApoE levels in this study group of 715 healthy middle-aged men. Regarding the observational design of the study, the physiological relationship of the observed associations between sex steroids and cardiovascular risk factors remains to be unravelled.
Atherosclerosis 2003 Jan
PMID:Differential contribution of testosterone and estradiol in the determination of cholesterol and lipoprotein profile in healthy middle-aged men. 1248 55

Atherosclerosis is a diffuse process that involves vessel structures. In recent years, the relation of noninvasive parameters such as intima-media thickening (IMT), arterial distensibility (AD), and stiffness index (SI) to cardiovascular diseases has been researched. However, we have not found any study that has included all these parameters. The aim of this study is to examine the relation between the presence of coronary artery disease (CAD) and its risk factors to AD, SI, and IMT, which are the noninvasive predictors of atherosclerotic process in the carotid artery. Included in the study were 180 patients who were diagnosed as having CAD by coronary angiography (those with at least > or = 30% stenosis in the coronary arteries) and, as a control group, 53 persons who had normal appearing coronary angiographies. IMT, AD, and SI values of all the patients in the study were measured by echo-Doppler imaging (AD formula = 2 x (AoS - AoD)/PP x AoD, SI formula = (SBP/DBP)/([AoS - AoD]/AoD). Significantly increased IMT (0.82 +/- 0.1, 0.57 +/- 0.1, p<0.05), decreased AD (0.25 +/- 0.9, 0.37 +/- 0.1, p<0.05), and increased SI (13 +/- 4, 8 +/- 3, p<0.05) values were detected in the CAD group compared to the control group. A significant correlation was found between IMT and presence of diabetes mellitus (DM), systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and presence of plaque in carotids, and age. In the coronary artery disease group there was a significant correlation between AD and age, systolic blood pressure, and HDL cholesterol levels, while there was no significant correlation with plaque development. A significant correlation was also found between stiffness index and systolic blood pressure and age; however, there was no relation between number of involved vessels and IMT, AD, and SI. We found sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive and negative predictive values for CAD diagnosis to be 70%, 75%, 77%, and 66%, respectively. In CAD cases, according to data in this study, IMT and SI increased while AD decreased, and this was detected by carotid artery Doppler ultrasonography. Therefore, it was concluded that these cheaper, noninvasive, and easily available parameters could be used in early diagnosis of CAD.
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PMID:Relation between coronary artery disease, risk factors and intima-media thickness of carotid artery, arterial distensibility, and stiffness index. 1278 18

Increased serum urate concentration is a frequent finding in patients with hypertension. Since hyperuricemia is associated with obesity, renal disease, hyperlipidemia, and atherosclerosis, whether or not serum urate is a cardiovascular risk factor per se has remained elusive. The subjects were 210 Turkish male and 210 female adults over 20 years of age. None had diabetes mellitus, endocrine diseases, or renal or hepatic disease, and those receiving antihypertensive drugs, systemic corticosteroids, or lipid-lowering drugs were excluded. Height, weight, blood pressure, serum glucose, lipid profiles, serum insulin, DHEA-SO4, and leptin were measured in the morning after an overnight fast. Women had significantly higher mean leptin (20.3 +/- 0.88 ng/mL vs 5.78 +/- 0.39 ng/mL, P < 0.001) and lower mean uric acid (248.03 +/- 4.76 micromol/L vs 311.6 +/- 5.35 micromol/L, P < 0.001), triglyceride (1.42 +/- 0.06 mmol/L vs 1.61 +/- 0.06 mmol/L, P < 0.001), and DHEA-SO4 (3.02 +/- 0.17 micromol/L vs 4.43 +/- 0.19 micromol/L, P < 0.001) concentrations than men, even when adjusted for BMI. On univariate correlation analysis, leptin showed the strongest association with BMI in both sexes and also correlated significantly with BMI, insulin, uric acid, glucose, total cholesterol, and triglycerides in males and BMI, insulin, uric acid, total cholesterol, apo B, and creatinine in females after adjustment for age and BMI. A statistical model containing creatinine, leptin, insulin, and triglycerides accounted for 34% of the variance in serum uric acid levels in men, whereas another consisting of creatinine, triglycerides, leptin, SBP, and insulin explained 42% of the variance in serum uric acid in women. The present study suggests that leptin could be one of the possible candidates for the missing link between obesity and hyperuricemia. Our study may also suggest that hyperuricemia is not only a metabolic end product but also a marker of a major pressor or pathogenic mechanism underlying the hypertension in obesity.
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PMID:Leptin might be a regulator of serum uric acid concentrations in humans. 1290 34

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the associations of ultrasonographic manifestations of carotid atherosclerosis with systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and pulse pressure (PP) in 65-year-old Finns drawn from a population-based cohort. Carotid ultrasonographic measurements were performed on 54 diabetic subjects, 97 subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and 57 normoglycaemic subjects (NGT). The subjects were classified into four quartiles of SBP, DBP and PP. SBP, DBP, PP and the use of antihypertensive drugs increased along with the deterioration of glucose status. The maximal intima-media thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery (CCA) from the lowest to the highest quartiles of SBP was 0.98+/-0.34, 1.00+/-0.35, 1.03+/-0.29, 1.18+/- 0.52 mm (P=0.038), respectively. SBP was higher (161+/-22 mmHg) in the subjects with severe intima-media thickening (maximal IMT CCA > or =1.2 mm) than in those with maximal IMT CCA of <1.2 mm (153+/- 20 mmHg) (P=0.030). DBP and PP tended to be higher in the former than the latter group (DBP: 89+/-9 mmHg vs 86+/-9 mmHg, P=0.055 and PP: 72+/-18 mmHg vs 67+/-17 mmHg, P=0.159). The prevalence of severe intima-media thickening was 39% in the subjects in the highest SBP quartile (> or =170 mmHg) and 20% in the subjects with lower SBP (P=0.008). In multiple regression analysis, the adjusted OR for severe intima-media thickening was 2.9 (95% CI 1.1-7.9) in the subjects in the highest SBP quartile compared to the subjects with lower SBP. In the present study, high SBP was associated with severe carotid intima-media thickening. We suggest that the results can be generalized to apply to elderly Finnish subjects with DM and IGT, but not to normoglycaemic subjects, on the basis of this study.
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PMID:Associations of blood pressure with carotid intima-media thickness in elderly Finns with diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose tolerance. 1450 29

Oxidative stress in sustained hypertension was shown with several biochemical parameters. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) plays an important role during the atherosclerosis process and paraoxonase (PON1) can significantly inhibit lipid peroxidation. Serum PON1 activity, oxLDL and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations and their relationship with serum lipid parameters and systolic and diastolic blood pressures (SBP and DBP) were determined in subjects with white coat hypertension (WCH), sustained hypertension (HT) and normotension (NT). The study group consisted of a total of 86 subjects, 30 with WCH (14 male, 16 female subjects), 30 with HT (13 male, 17 female subjects) and 26 with NT (12 male, 14 female subjects). Both white coat hypertensive and hypertensive subjects had significantly higher levels of MDA than normotensives (P<0.026 and P<0.001, respectively). The oxLDL level of the HT group was significantly higher than the NT group (P<0.023). The WCH group had an oxLDL level similar to both hypertensive and normotensive groups. HT and WCH groups had significantly lower PON1 levels than the normotensive group (P<0.001). oxLDL correlated with MDA positively (P=0.008), and PON1 negatively (P=0.008). A negative correlation between MDA and PON1 (P=0.014) was detected. MDA correlated positively with both SBP and DBP (P=0.001), while PON1 correlated with both of them negatively (P=0.01 and P=0.008, respectively). OxLDL correlated with diastolic blood pressure positively (P=0.008). Our data demonstrate that oxidative stress increase in WCH is associated with a decrease in PON1 activity. The reduction in PON1 activity may be one of the factors leading to an increase in oxidative status in WCH.
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PMID:Oxidative stress in white coat hypertension; role of paraoxonase. 1498 79

The main purpose of this study was to determine whether cardiac autonomic neuropathy or coronary atherosclerosis is the more important factor affecting prolongation of the corrected QT interval (QTc) in patients with type 2 diabetes. We studied the association between QTc and the coefficient of variance of the heart rate variation (CV(RR)), which reflects cardiac autonomic neuropathy, and the combined intimal-medial thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery, which reflects coronary atherosclerosis. In addition, we also investigated the relationship between the QTc and blood pressure, serum lipid concentrations, hemoglobin A(1C) (HbA(1C)) concentration, and duration of diabetes. We studied 75 patients with type 2 diabetes and 30 age-matched healthy individuals. The QT interval was measured in lead II of the electrocardiogram (ECG) and was corrected using Bazett's formula. Cardiac neuropathy was assessed by measuring CV(RR). Atherosclerosis was evaluated by measuring the combined IMT of the common carotid artery using B-mode ultrasonography. The QTc in patients with type 2 diabetes was significantly longer than in healthy individuals (P <.0001). The QTc more closely correlated with the IMT of the carotid artery (r = 0.7206, P <.0001), compared with CV(RR) (r = -0.3188, P =.0053), although both were statistically significant. The QTc also correlated positively with the systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (r = 0.4371, P <.0001, r = 0.3632, P =.0014, respectively). Based on stepwise regression analysis with the QTc interval as the dependent variable, the IMT of the carotid artery had the most significant association with the QTc (beta = 0.6882, P =.0004). In conclusion, QTc prolongation in the setting of diabetes might be caused primarily by coronary atherosclerosis rather than by cardiac autonomic neuropathy.
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PMID:Association between the corrected QT intervals and combined intimal-medial thickness of the carotid artery in patients with type 2 diabetes. 1533 77

We compared 5-min standard deviations (SD) and frequency domain measures of beat-to-beat pulse pressure (PP) variability with those of RR-interval, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure variabilities, and with cross-spectral baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in a population-based sample of 150 healthy individuals, aged 35-64 years. Beat-to-beat variability of PP was composed of similar frequency components as the other spectral variabilities, and was closely related to SBP variability. The proportion of high frequency (HF) component from overall variability was higher in PP variability than in SBP and DBP variabilities. The low frequency (LF) component and the SD of beat-to-beat PP correlated inversely with BRS (-0.48 and -0.32, respectively; P<0.001 for both). To test a hypothesis that arterial stiffening is associated with increased beat-to-beat oscillation in PP, we examined associations of beat-to-beat PP variability with risk factors of atherosclerosis, i.e. with age, gender, smoking, blood pressure, body mass index, serum lipids, glucose, insulin and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance. The SD of beat-to-beat PP variability correlated with age (0.21, P = 0.010), PP (0.31, P<0.001) and body mass index (0.22, P = 0.008). The LF component of PP variability correlated not only with age (0.17, P = 0.041), PP (0.27, P = 0.001) and body mass index (0.22, P = 0.007), but also with serum insulin (0.17, P = 0.042), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (0.18, P = 0.031) and serum triglycerides (0.16, P = 0.048). Our findings suggest that increased beat-to-beat oscillation of PP reflects arterial stiffening and impaired baroreflex function.
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PMID:Beat-to-beat oscillations in pulse pressure. 1538 88

The purpose of the study was to examine the stability of variables associated with the metabolic syndrome from adolescence to adulthood. The sample included 48 subjects from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study who had one clinical visit during adolescence (mean age = 15.8 years) and a follow-up visit during adulthood (mean age = 26.6 years). The following variables were considered: treadmill time to exhaustion (TM), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), percent body fat (%BF), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), TC:HDL-C, triglycerides (TG), glucose (GLU), and systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP), and mean (MAP) blood pressure. A composite risk factor score using variables consistent with the WHO and ATP III definition of the metabolic syndrome (WC, HDL-C, TG, MAP, and GLU) was calculated. Tracking coefficients were computed as partial correlations, controlling for length of follow-up (mean = 11 years). Tracking coefficients (r values) were moderate for all variables (TM, 0.53; BMI, 0.64; WC; 0.79;%BF, 0.44; TC, 0.62; HDL-C, 0.60; TG, 0.54; TC:HDL-C, 0.78; SBP, 0.45; and MAP, 0.41), except GLU (0.26) and DBP (0.21). The composite risk factor score also tracked moderately well (0.56) from adolescence into adulthood. The results support previous findings that variables associated with the metabolic syndrome track moderately well from adolescence to adulthood. The findings support the prevention and treatment of obesity, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome during childhood and adolescence.
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PMID:Stability of variables associated with the metabolic syndrome from adolescence to adulthood: the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study. 1549 27


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