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Query: UMLS:C0004153 (atherosclerosis)
 77,401 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Type II diabetes and hypertension are two pathologies which are frequently associated in adults, especially in developed countries. All the more so when patients are also obese: obesity is today, and will be in the next future, a true epidemic in these countries. These three pathologies imply a risk for cardiovascular complications much higher than that due to an isolated arterial hypertension. This increased risk is probably due to many factors: hyperglycemia, a dismetabolic syndrome (hyperlipemia, hyperuricemia, thrombophilia, altered Na(+)-H+ membrane exchanges = syndrome X) and hyperinsulinemia which favor atherosclerosis and clinical events. Consequently non-pharmacological and aggressive pharmacological therapy is necessary. Even if the trials done in the last years are questionable and not totally convincing, all researchers agree that lowering blood pressure to normality is the best way to improve prognosis of these patients. Usually for this purpose we need a therapy with more than one drug. Among the antihypertensive drugs, ACE-inhibitors (and perhaps also angiotensin receptor blockers) are preferred, especially in those hypertensives with diabetes who have also microalbuminuria or a frank proteinuria.
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PMID:[Diabetes and arterial hypertension]. 1177 8

Essential hypertension is associated with endothelial dysfunction, which is caused mainly by the production of oxygen-free radicals that can destroy nitric oxide (NO), and impair its beneficial and protective effects on the vessel wall. In prospective studies, endothelial dysfunction is associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular events. Antihypertensive drugs show contrasting effects in terms of improvement or restoration of endothelial function. Little evidence is available with beta-blockers. Whereas treatment with atenolol has a negative effect in peripheral subcutaneous and muscle microcirculation, insufficient evidence is available to establish whether new compounds such as nebivolol, which activates the L-Arginine--NO pathway, and carvedilol, which has strong antioxidant activity, can improve endothelial function in patients with hypertension. Calcium channel antagonists, particularly the dihydropyridines, can reverse impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation in different vascular districts, including the subcutaneous, epicardial, renal and forearm circulation. However, conflicting results are found in the brachial artery. In the forearm circulation, nifedipine and lacidipine can improve endothelial dysfunction by restoring NO availability through a mechanism probably related to an antioxidant effect. ACE inhibitors, on the other hand, seem to improve endothelial function in subcutaneous, epicardial, brachial and renal circulation, whereas they are ineffective in potentiating the blunted response to acetylcholine in the forearm of patients with essential hypertension. They can also selectively improve endothelium-dependent vasodilation to bradykinin, an effect not mediated by restoring NO availability but probably related to hyperpolarisation. Recent evidence suggests angiotensin II AT(1)-receptor antagonists can restore endothelium-dependent vasodilation to acetylcholine in subcutaneous microcirculation but not in that of the forearm muscle. Evidence concerning the effect of these drugs on the brachial artery in patients with atherosclerosis is positive. However, treatment with an AT(1)-receptor antagonist can improve basal NO release and decrease the vasoconstrictor effect of endogenous endothelin-1. In conclusion, despite the considerable evidence that impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation can be improved by appropriate antihypertensive treatment, no clinical data exist demonstrating that the reversal of endothelial dysfunction is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular events. In the near future, large scale clinical trials are required to demonstrate that treatment of endothelial dysfunction can lead to better prognosis in patients with essential hypertension.
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PMID:Effects of antihypertensive drugs on endothelial dysfunction: clinical implications. 1181 73

Individuals with diabetes are at high risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease, a risk that is significantly greater in the presence of traditional CV risk factors (hyperlipidaemia, hypertension, prothrombotic state). Glucose control and management of these risk factors decreases but does not eliminate CV events, reflecting the complexity of atherosclerosis. Novel risk factors (C-reactive protein, lipoprotein a, homocysteine, and endothelial dysfunction) have been proposed and are potentially modifiable. However, clinical trials data are not yet available to guide therapy. At this time, no single agent can achieve adequate risk reduction in patients with diabetes. Even with the use of multiple agents and classes of agents to manage CV risk, 75% of patients with diabetes are expected to die from CV causes. Despite the recent advances in primary and secondary prevention of CV events, new approaches are needed. Data from the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) trial demonstrated that CV risk can be further reduced by the addition of the ACE inhibitor ramipril to the existing treatment regimen of high-risk patients with diabetes.
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PMID:Attenuating CV risk factors in patients with diabetes: clinical evidence to clinical practice. 1184 49

Atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a common disorder usually associated with silent or symptomatic arterial disease elsewhere in the circulation and a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors inducing atheroma progression and/or thrombotic complications. Because of these strong clinical associations, especially with coronary heart disease, the ankle-brachial pressure index (ABPI) is of prognostic significance. The clinical management of IC should include relief of symptoms combined with prevention of secondary cardiovascular complications, e.g. acute thrombotic events causing limb- or life-threatening ischaemia, which are often due to atherosclerotic plaque rupture leading to thrombotic vessel occlusion. Many patients with PAD do not receive an optimum package of secondary prevention, tailored to include maximum cholesterol reduction, BP and glycaemic control, ACE inhibition and single or combination anti-platelet therapy. This review considers recent information from large secondary prevention trials, e.g. the PAD subgroups within the HOPE, CAPRIE and statin studies. Slowing progression of atherosclerosis, and inducing stabilisation and regression of atheromatous plaques, is now feasible using long-term combination drug therapy. The phrase angle quotation mark, leftangle quotation mark, leftconservative therapyangle quotation mark, rightangle quotation mark, right, popular among vascular surgeons, implies a passive minimal-intervention strategy of surveillance and lifestyle advice; such terminology is perhaps no longer appropriate since considerable improvements in survival are likely to accrue if all patients with PAD, especially those with low ABPI, receive vigorous, titrated medical therapies, tailored to individual patients, as part of an evidence-based secondary prevention regime.
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PMID:Management of intermittent claudication: the importance of secondary prevention. 1186 26

Aortic elastin turnover is significantly accelerated in atherosclerosis, partly because of activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system caused by hypercholesterolaemia. We postulated that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I) prevent the aortic elastin loss in experimental hypercholesterolaemia. Two doses of ACE-I (captopril, enalapril and quinapril) were used: a dose equivalent to that applied to human subjects and a dose 10 times higher. We found that the increase in serum and aortic elastolytic activity in cholesterol-fed rabbits was prevented by high-dose captopril. The elastin content in aorta homogenates from cholesterol-fed rabbits was significantly decreased. The higher dose of captopril, but no other ACE-I, prevented this decrease in aortic elastin content. In cholesterol-fed rabbits the elastin-bound calcium content was significantly elevated. The higher doses of captopril and enalapril lowered the elastin-bound calcium content. In serum and aortic homogenates of cholesterol-fed rabbits, ACE activity was elevated by 15% and 77%, respectively. Both doses of captopril, enalapril and quinapril prevented this cholesterol-induced increase in serum and aortic ACE activity. We conclude that: 1) administration of captopril at doses 10 times higher than those used in humans prevents hypercholesterolaemia increased aortic elastin loss. 2) higher doses of captopril and enalapril prevent the hypercholesterolaemia-induced increase in aortic elastin-bound calcium.
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PMID:The influence of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors on the aorta elastin metabolism in diet-induced hypercholesterolaemia in rabbits. 1188 Oct 65

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality by improving coronary perfusion, reducing ventricular hypertrophy and remodeling, and preventing progression of coronary atherosclerosis. However, the cellular mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of ACEi are not fully understood. We studied the in vivo effects of ACE inhibition with perindopril on cellular expression of ACE, AT(1) receptors and 2 nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoforms, endothelial (eNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS), in human blood vessels using quantitative in vitro autoradiography and immunocytochemistry. Seven patients with ischemic heart disease were treated with perindopril (4 mg/d) for up to 5 weeks before elective coronary bypass surgery, whereas controls did not receive the ACEi (n=7). Perindopril decreased plasma ACE by 70% and the plasma angiotensin II to angiotensin I ratio by 57% and reduced vascular ACE to approximately 65% of control levels in both endothelium and adventitia. By contrast, AT(1) receptor binding in vascular smooth muscle cells was increased by 80% in patients treated with perindopril as confirmed by immunocytochemistry. eNOS was expressed primarily in endothelial cells, whereas little iNOS expression occurred in vascular smooth muscle cells of untreated patients. Both eNOS and iNOS expression seemed to increase during perindopril treatment. These results suggest that suppression of angiotensin II formation in the vascular wall and increased expression of eNOS and iNOS during ACE inhibition may be beneficial in reversing endothelial dysfunction in patients with cardiovascular disease. Because vascular AT(1) receptor expression is increased during chronic ACE inhibition, more clinical studies are required to determine whether it is necessary to combine ACE inhibitors and AT(1) receptor antagonists in clinical management of heart failure, coronary heart disease, and hypertension
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PMID:Perindopril alters vascular angiotensin-converting enzyme, AT(1) receptor, and nitric oxide synthase expression in patients with coronary heart disease. 1236 66

Our perception of the mechanisms underlying the acute complications of atherosclerosis has significantly changed in the last decade. Most coronary thromboses result from a rupture or a fissure in the protective fibrous cap of atherosclerotic plaque, but less common from a superficial erosion. The extent of thrombosis is a determinant of the clinical picture of acute coronary syndromes. Until now, we held a high grade stenosis responsible for the vast majority of acute coronary syndromes. However, current findings establish the relevance of qualitative aspects of plaques as important determinants of the vulnerability of plaques, i.e. the risk to cause acute complications. Among morphologic and functional features of plaques, inflammation has emerged as a leading pathophysiologic mechanism. In addition to local effect of inflammation at the level of the unstable plaque itself, systemic factors of the inflammatory response may alter the thrombogenicity of a vulnerable plaque. Knowledge of the role of inflammation helps us to understand the mechanisms by which therapeutic efforts can reduce clinical events. The clinical benefits of dietary modifications, pharmacotherapy with statins, and ACE inhibitors may be due in part to an anti-inflammatory action.
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PMID:[Etiology of acute coronary syndrome--unstable plaque]. 1188 50

In the field of cardiovascular pharmacology the year 2001 has been marked by the demonstration of the clinical significance of new anti-thrombotics and by the interesting results with anti-endothelins. Whereas the failure of oral antiGPIIb-IIIa has been confirmed, melagatran (an anti-thrombin administered orally) and pentasaccharide (a new subcutaneous anti-Xa) have proved their efficacy in the prevention of venous thromboembolic disease compared to low molecular weight heparins, with an acceptable incidence of unwanted effects. Anti-endothelins under development have variable mechanisms of action from one drug to another. Their efficacy in cardiac insufficiency, pulmonary artery hypertension and arterial hypertension is suggested by clinical studies investigating small population; a more important study in decompensated cardiac insufficiency has not however shown a reduction of the morbidity and mortality with one of these drugs. The clinical significance of angiotensin II receptor antagonists has been confirmed for the indications which they share with ACE inhibitors (cardiac insufficiency, prevention of diabetic nephropathy). However, there are not enough comparative trials for these indications between these two classes in order to draw conclusions about the equivalence or superiority of one or the other. Of help elsewhere has been a re-interpretation of the mode of action of arterial wall drugs, and the inflammatory theory of atherosclerosis, putting the accent for example on the reduction of C reactive protein with a statin, or on the anti-inflammatory effect of aspirin. However, one study has not shown any benefit in giving a short course of corticosteroids in unstable angina. A very prominent event in the year 2001 remains the withdrawal of cerivstatin due to fatal rhabdomyolysis. The consequences go far beyond this drug, as its withdrawal justifies a fresh examination of the risk-benefit ratio for all the statins, with the probable corollary of a halt in the escalation of prescriptions. In this context, the new ezetimibe-type cholesterol absorption inhibitors could be a future solution.
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PMID:[The best of 2001. Clinical pharmacology]. 1190 97

The following seven polymorphic marker loci of genes responsible for predisposition to coronary atherosclerosis (CAS) were studied: the ACE locus responsible for angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism for the presence or absence of the Alu insertion in the gene; the F13, PLAT, and APOA1 loci, controlling the clotting factor 13, plasminogen-activating tissue factor, and apolipoprotein A, respectively; the MTHFR and AGT polymorphic loci responsible for point mutations in methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase and those in angiotensinogen, respectively, and the NOS3 locus controlling the number of tandem repeats in the nitric oxide synthase gene. These loci are located on different chromosomes and encode products involved into various metabolic pathways leading to CAS. In the populations studied, significant differences between healthy subjects and patients predisposed to cardiovascular diseases were revealed with regard to the above seven markers. The 174M allele (T174M polymorphism in the ACE gene) was significantly associated with coronary atherosclerosis. It was found that specific gene combinations are involved in the CAS development and determine variation in the pathogenetically important quantitative traits.
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PMID:[Analysis of gene complexes predisposing to coronary atherosclerosis]. 1196 67

Nephroangiosclerosis and nephrosclerosis are terms used to define the renal disease induced by essential hypertension. The predominant histologic changes occur in the preglomerular microvasculature. Epidemiological data about the risk of hypertensive patients from developing renal failure offer conflicting results. Nevertheless, renal vascular disease, including nephroangiosclerosis and/or ischemic nephropathy, appears to be an important cause of end-stage renal disease. Presumably, nephrosclerosis is the renal expression of systemic atherosclerosis: male sex, age > 55-60 years, black race, high serum cholesterol and/or uric acid levels, and coronary heart disease, peripheral artery disease, and/or cerebrovascular disease are common associations with the renal alteration. Treatment strategy should include an intensive blood pressure control, probably below 130/80 mmHg, together with antiplatelet and lipid-lowering agents when necessary. Although specific studies are lacking, ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II antagonists may offer additional benefits in slowing the renal disease progression.
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PMID:[Arterial hypertension and renal vascular disease: nephroangiosclerosis]. 1198 69


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