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)

The incidence of various types of cardiovascular disease was evaluated in 2007 consecutive forensic patients. Cardiovascular deaths accounted for 22.8% of the study patients and atherosclerotic coronary heart disease was the most common type of cardiac disease (18%). Among subjects dying of atherosclerotic coronary disease, sudden death was three times more frequent than acute myocardial infarction. Expected cardiac findings included the incidence of severe coronary atherosclerosis (21%), floppy mitral valves (5%), and congenital bicuspid aortic valves (1%). Major cardiac findings occurred in 32% and minor cardiac findings were found in 40%. Only 17% of hearts were anatomically normal. An unexpected cardiac necropsy finding included the high frequency of myocardial bridges (23%). Unexpected cardiac findings included the low incidence of acute myocarditis (0.6%) and common finding of tunneled epicardial coronary arteries ("myocardial bridges") (23%).
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PMID:Cardiac pathology in 2007 consecutive forensic autopsies. 139 87

Microalbuminuria is diagnosed when the UAER is greater than 20 but less than 200 micrograms/min. The prevalence of microalbuminuria among diabetic patients is 15-20%. Persistent microalbuminuria in diabetic patients is a risk marker not only of renal disease, but also of proliferative retinopathy and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Even among nondiabetic individuals, those with microalbuminuria tend to have an increased cardiovascular morbidity. The established cardiovascular risk factors, such as smoking, elevated plasma cholesterol, fibrinogen, and hypertension, are seen more frequently in diabetic patients with persistent microalbuminuria than in normoalbuminuric diabetic patients of similar age, sex, and diabetes duration. However, these risk factors cannot by themselves explain the cardiovascular overmortality in these patients. In addition, insulin resistance or genetic disposition to hypertension or cardiovascular disease fails to be the missing link. Accumulating evidence suggests a common pathogenetic mechanism for microalbuminuria and premature atherosclerosis (i.e., qualitative alterations of the extracellular matrix, including decreased density and sulfation of HS-PG). Decreased density of HS in the glomeruli may lead to albuminuria and mesangial proliferation. In the intima of large vessel walls, decreased density and/or sulfation of HS may enhance several of the processes involved in premature atherosclerosis. Diabetes affects the composition and structure of the extracellular matrix in many ways and leads to decreased density and sulfation of HS-PG by several mechanisms. Genetic differences in the sulfation of HS and/or genetic defects in the coordinated biosynthesis of HS-PG might contribute to decreased concentration and sulfation of HS-PG in susceptible individuals. It is hoped that susceptibility genes can be identified soon, thereby making prevention of severe late diabetic complications more successful.
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PMID:Microalbuminuria. Implications for micro- and macrovascular disease. 139 15

The aims of this study were to evaluate plasma lipid, apoprotein and Lp(a) levels in patients with severe coronary atherosclerosis undergoing aorto-coronary bypass surgery (BP) and to relate these parameters to the involvement of one or more vessels. Seventy-seven male patients and 77 cardiovascular disease-free controls, matched for sex, age and body weight were studied. Higher triglyceride and apo B levels with lower HDL-cholesterol and apo A-I levels were found in BP patients in comparison with the controls. Lp(a) levels were slightly, but not significantly, increased. Moreover BP patients presented a significantly higher prevalence of HDL-cholesterol levels below 35 mg dl-1 (49.3% vs 22.1%) and Lp(a) levels above 70 mg dl-1 (10.4% vs 1.3%) than the controls. When patients were divided according to the number of coronary vessels involved (one, two or three), no significant difference was found, with a trend to increase in Lp(a) mean levels and in prevalence of Lp(a) levels above 30 and 70 mg dl-1 in more severely diseased patients. These results suggest that patients with severe coronary artery disease undergoing aorto-coronary bypass surgery show low HDL-cholesterol levels with high triglyceride levels. Moreover Lp(a) levels above 70 mg dl-1 are highly associated with severe coronary vessel stenosis.
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PMID:Lp(a) levels in patients undergoing aorto-coronary bypass surgery. 139 16

DETERMINANTS OF BLOOD RHEOLOGY: Blood flow depends on driving pressure and a resistance factor, the latter being related to geometrical hindrance and to the intrinsic viscosity of the blood. Since whole blood is non-Newtonian in nature, blood viscosity is strongly dependent on shear conditions. Low-shear areas occur in cardiovascular disease, and therefore the interaction between blood viscosity and flow conditions may affect vascular disorders. Increased shear stress secondary to increased viscosity may produce endothelial activation and release of endothelium-derived relaxing factors, leading to flow-dependent vasodilation. All the determinants of blood rheology, including plasma protein and erythrocyte factors may be altered in patients with arterial hypertension. BLOOD RHEOLOGY IN HYPERTENSION: A hyperviscosity state is created which is associated with an unfavourable prognosis, since it is correlated with blood pressure levels and the severity and complications of the disease including left ventricular hypertrophy. The mechanisms of haemorheological abnormalities in hypertension are still unclear. It is not known whether blood rheology is an independent variable in patients with hypertension or whether it is a covariable with other established indices of heterogeneity. However, many aetiopathological changes identified in hypertensive disease may contribute to the observed changes in blood rheology. Haemorheological changes in hypertension, through complex interactions with platelet activation and endothelial function, may contribute to the development of thrombosis and atherosclerosis. Moreover, in acute and chronic ischaemia and other conditions where compensatory mechanisms such as collateral formation and vasodilation are limited, rheological factors may become important determinants of blood flow and tissue oxygenation. TREATMENT EFFECTS: Many antihypertensive agents have direct or indirect potential effects on haemorheological variables. However, to date, most studies that have investigated the effects of therapy on rheological variables have not been performed in clinically relevant situations. Controlled studies that monitor both the acute and longterm effects of antihypertensive drugs on relevant haemorheological variables are required to show whether specific therapeutic approaches can correct abnormalities in blood rheology.
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PMID:Blood rheology in arterial hypertension. 140 36

The development of the nephrotic syndrome is associated with a lipid profile characterized by increased total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Although total high density lipoprotein (HDL) values may be in the normal range, there is frequently abnormalities of HDL subclasses, with reduction of the mature HDL2 subfraction. While these lipid changes may be considered a risk for atherosclerosis, they revert to normal with remission of the nephrotic syndrome. However, with chronic nephrotic range proteinuria, these abnormalities persist and may also be associated with increased levels of lipoprotein (a), increased levels of very light density lipoprotein and further reductions in HDL. These factors could all contribute to greater risk for atherosclerosis. Although coronary artery disease is frequently seen in patients with end-stage renal disease, and many uncontrolled studies in patients with chronic nephrotic syndrome have suggested an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease, no prospective studies to evaluate relationship between lipid abnormalities and cardiac disease have been performed in patients with the nephrotic syndrome. Recent experimental data have also suggested a relationship between hyperlipidemia and progressive renal injury. Unfortunately, human epidemiological data are incomplete in correlating lipid changes with renal disease in patients with chronic nephrotic syndrome. No therapeutic trials have tested whether or not pharmacologic interventions will benefit either the cardiac or renal disease that ensues in patients with chronic persistent nephrotic syndrome. Thus, considerably more data are needed to help clarify this important area.
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PMID:Is the aggressive management of hyperlipidemia in nephrotic syndrome mandatory? 140 64

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays a major role in the control of blood pressure and cardiovascular homeostasis and is involved in the pathogenesis of a number of cardiovascular disorders. The efficacy of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in the treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure has led to the widespread clinical use of ACE inhibitors in primary or secondary prevention of heart disease. The demonstration of the expression of the components of the RAS in several extrarenal tissues, as well as local generation of angiotensin II, has confirmed the existence of a tissue RAS that may serve organ-specific functions and act independently from the plasma RAS. The concept of paracrine/autocrine functions of the local RAS has changed our understanding of the functions of the RAS and suggests that tissue ACE inhibition may be of greater importance than inhibition of circulating ACE in the treatment of congestive heart failure and other cardiovascular disorders. Whereas the circulating endocrine RAS appears to be responsible for mediation of acute effects, the tissue RAS seems to be involved in more chronic situations, such as secondary structural changes of the cardiovascular system, and therefore could contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension as well as other cardiovascular disorders, such as cardiac hypertrophy, coronary artery disease, and atherosclerosis. Several experimental and clinical findings suggest that reversal of cardiovascular structural changes secondary to cardiovascular disease and enhancement of renal sodium excretion by ACE inhibitors are important long-term antihypertensive actions possibly mediated by inhibition of the tissue RAS.
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PMID:Effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors on tissue renin-angiotensin systems. 141 88

Several epidemiological studies have shown decreased cardiovascular mortality and a lower incidence of coronary artery disease in subjects with high dietary intakes of Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. It has since been shown that Omega-3 fatty acids have a number of beneficial effects in the prevention of atherosclerosis in man: reduction of blood pressure, modifications of lipoprotein metabolism, modifications of haemostasis (increased bleeding time and reduced platelet aggregation), decreased plasma fibrinogen, modifications of the metabolism of arachidonic acid and its derivatives (decreased thromboxane and leukotriene synthesis, increased prostacyclin synthesis). Therefore, Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have several beneficial effects on the presumed mechanisms of atherogenesis and/or its complications: they could represent an original and seductive solution to the problem of prevention of cardiovascular disease.
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PMID:[Potential value of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the prevention of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases]. 141 9

To evaluate the influence of hypercholesterolaemia on arterial and blood factors related to cardiovascular disease in hypertension, 20 normocholesterolaemic and 31 hypercholesterolaemic hypertensive patients underwent determinations of whole blood filterability (WBF), plasma fibrinogen concentration (PF) and aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV). Both of the groups had similar age, body mass index, cumulative smoking dose and blood pressure. Hypercholesterolaemics had lower WBF (P less than 0.02), higher PF (P less than 0.02) and higher PWV (P less than 0.01) than normocholesterolaemics. In the whole population WBF correlated with age (P less than 0.005), mean blood pressure (P less than 0.01), total cholesterol (P less than 0.05) and plasma fibrinogen (P less than 0.01). However, in a multivariate analysis where age and pressure were controlled as variables, only the association between WBF and PF remained significant (P less than 0.001). Thus, the higher fibrinogen affects whole blood filterability in hypercholesterolaemic hypertensive patients. In the whole population PWV correlated positively with HDL cholesterol (P less than 0.01) and age (P less than 0.001) and the association with HDL cholesterol remained significant in a multivariate analysis (P less than 0.001) where age was controlled. The effect of ageing on arterial rigidity seems to be similar in both hypertensive groups as deduced from the identical regression slopes relating pulse wave velocity to age. So in hypertension with high cholesterol, arterial rigidity was increased without changes in arterial stiffening with age.
Atherosclerosis 1992 Aug
PMID:Hypercholesterolaemia alters arterial and blood factors related to atherosclerosis in hypertension. 141 91

Whether an association, causative or not, exists between the level of serum selenium and the risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) remains unsettled. We investigated the issue in a cohort of 3387 males aged 53-74 years (mean 63). Based on information about health status, life-style and socioeconomic factors given in a prefilled comprehensive questionnaire, the men were interviewed and the information validated. Following the interview, they underwent a clinical examination and had a venous blood sample drawn for the determination of a number of biochemical characteristics. Three hundred and forty-six men were excluded due to prevalent cardiovascular disease, including stroke. During the next three years (1986-1989) 107 men (approximately 3%) suffered an IHD event; 25 events were fatal. Compared to others, men with serum selenium levels less than or equal to 1 mumol/l, approximately the lowest tertile, had a 70% increased risk of IHD, relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence limits was 1.70 (1.14-2.53). After multivariate adjustment for cholesterol, social class, smoking and age, RR was 1.55 (1.00-2.39). Serum selenium level was significantly (P less than 0.05), but not strongly, correlated with a number of IHD risk factors: serum cotinine, tobacco smoking, social class, alcohol consumption, total cholesterol, hypertension, age and physical inactivity. Body mass index, HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides were not significantly associated with serum selenium. We conclude that middle-aged and elderly Danish men with serum selenium less than or equal to 1 mumol/l had a significantly increased risk of ischaemic heart disease. This association was not explained by the interrelationship of serum selenium and major cardiovascular risk factors.
Atherosclerosis 1992 Sep
PMID:Serum selenium concentration and risk of ischaemic heart disease in a prospective cohort study of 3000 males. 141

Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, a direct link between these two states is difficult to establish, since obesity frequently occurs with other disease states such as diabetes, hypertension and atherosclerosis. Clinical studies have clearly shown that uncorrected obesity is associated with cardiac hypertrophy and compromised ventricular function. A number of rodent models of obesity have been studied in terms of cardiovascular adaptations. Cardiac function of the obese Zucker rat appears to be normal at a younger age. Only after several months is depression in cardiac function discernable. These animals are mildly hypertensive, but do not exhibit the characteristic increase in cardiac output associated with human obesity. A unique characteristic of JCR:LA-cp rat is that they develop atherosclerotic and myocardial lesions. Hearts from these animals will maintain normal function when perfused with physiological levels of calcium. At higher calcium concentrations, however, mechanical function becomes impaired. Dietary-induced obese rats exhibit many of the hemodynamic alterations associated with human obesity, but there is no evidence to-date that these animals will develop severe cardiac depression. Short-term weight reduction apparently has beneficial cardiovascular effects, but weight cycling may be harmful. Given the widespread occurrence of obesity, further studies are warranted to characterize the cardiac manifestations of this condition.
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PMID:Cardiovascular abnormalities associated with human and rodent obesity. 143 63


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