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

We investigated the association of elevated serum low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, smoking and hypertension with different manifestations of carotid atherosclerosis in a population-based sample of 720 Eastern Finnish men aged 42, 48, 54 or 60 years, examined in the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study. Carotid atherosclerosis was assessed with high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography. Men who had neither a history nor symptoms of cardiovascular disease with serum LDL cholesterol concentration in the highest tertile (4.17 mM or more) had 3.40-fold (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.98-5.84) age-, smoking- and hypertension-adjusted probability of intimal-medial thickening as compared to men in the lowest serum LDL cholesterol tertile. The odds ratio for carotid plaque versus intimal-medial thickening was only 1.03 (95% CI 0.47-2.28). The respective odds ratios for smoking (28 pack-years or more) were 1.62 (95% CI 0.79-3.32) and 3.02 (95% CI 1.41-6.47) and those for hypertension were 1.10 (95% CI 0.70-1.73) and 0.99 (95% CI 0.53-1.84). Our findings suggest that elevated serum LDL cholesterol concentration associates with an increased risk of common carotid arterial wall thickening, whereas smoking is associated more strongly with carotid plaques than intimal-medial thickening. Our cross-sectional data do not support association between hypertension and either manifestation of carotid atherosclerosis.
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PMID:Association of serum low density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking and hypertension with different manifestations of atherosclerosis. 208 21

Men in Eastern Finland show a substantially higher rate of coronary heart disease (CHD) than men in the Western part of the country. To study possible differences in the biochemical composition and atherosclerotic involvement of coronary arteries between these two populations, we analyzed major lipid and non-lipid components of coronary arteries from 15- to 60-year-old Finnish men after accidental death. The material consisted of 59 age-matched pairs from East and West Finland, respectively, collected at successive autopsies during 1979-1983. The coronary arteries from East Finland contained significantly more esterified cholesterol and a higher percentage of oleate in cholesteryl esters. The findings were most conspicuous under the age of 40 years, and imply a higher degree of atherosclerosis together with an increased rate of intracellular cholesterol esterification in coronary arteries in Eastern as compared with Western Finland. The vessels from East Finland also tended to contain more free cholesterol and raised lesions, but the differences were not statistically significant. No major regional differences were seen in total phospholipids, phospholipid subfractions, DNA, calcium, collagen, total protein, or glycosaminoglycans.
Atherosclerosis 1987 May
PMID:Atherosclerosis and biochemical composition of coronary arteries in Finnish men. Comparison of two populations with different incidences of coronary heart disease. 360 27

Sections of aorta, coronary artery, basilar artery and vena cava were collected at autopsy. Macroscopically normal intimal specimens were removed by stripping. Intimal collagen was measured as hydroxyproline. Intimal film embrittlement was measured in vitro by a bursting volume distensibility test developed in our laboratory. There was an average increase of over 100% in the collagen content of apparently lesion-free human arterial intima on aging over a fifty-year period. This includes an increase of 113% for aortic intima, 49% increase for coronary artery intima, and an increase of 158% in collagen in basilar artery intima. In contrast the collagen level in the vena caval intima decreases on aging, by 42% in fifty years. The large increase in collagen in arterial intima is accompanied by a large increase in intimal embrittlement. The decreasing collagen content of the venous intima on aging results in increased distensibility. Increased aortic intimal film embrittlement (lower distensibility) correlates with age (R = 0.699), but even better with intimal collagen (R = 0.911), suggesting that aortic intimal collagen level is a more important determinant of intimal embrittlement than age. Men, older than 55, have significantly higher aortic intimal collagen levels than women. Embrittlement of arterial intima should make it more susceptible to injury under the pulsatile pressure of the blood. Decreased venous intimal collagen and greater distensibility on aging could be factors in the development of venous valvular insufficiency and varicose veins. However, our study of veins was performed primarily as a control in this instance. Fundamental elements in the atherogenic process are increased intimal collagen, increased intimal brittleness, endothelial injury, followed by intimal cell proliferation. In the vena caval intima on aging there is decreased collagen, increased intimal distensibility, no injury due to increased pulse or blood pressure, and, therefore, no cell proliferation and no intimal lesion.
Atherosclerosis 1986 Feb
PMID:Arterial intimal embrittlement. A possible factor in atherogenesis. 396 42

A newly discovered activity in human serum protects porcine aortic endothelial cells in culture from injury by very low density lipoproteins (VLDL). This factor, toxicity-preventing activity (TxPA), was measured in 29 relatively young men (43 +/- 8 years) who had undergone coronary angiography. The level of TxPA was found to be significantly reduced (P less than 0.001) in men who demonstrated more than 15% narrowing of their coronary arteries. Men (n = 18) who had 15% or less narrowing were found to have 104 +/- 48 units of TxPA while men (n = 11) with coronary artery disease had 48 +/- 24 units of TxPA. A value derived from the product of TxPA and the high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level divided by the non-HDL-C (total cholesterol-HDL-C) accurately separated 97% of the men into 2 groups. TxPA thus appears to be a new protective factor in coronary artery disease, which, when combined with total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein cholesterol values, provides an accurate classification of established coronary artery disease in these subjects.
Atherosclerosis 1985 Oct
PMID:A new protective factor in coronary artery disease. Very low density lipoprotein toxicity-preventing activity. 407 65

The effects of colestipol (30 grams/day), niacin (7.3 grams/day), and diet on blood lipids and apolipoproteins after one year of therapy are reported. Men selected on the basis of previous coronary artery bypass surgery were randomly assigned to drug or control treatments in an angiographic study of atherosclerosis progression and regression. In 14 men, drugs and diet produced the following changes: Baseline total cholesterol 245 mg/dl, triglyceride 189 mg/dl, and LDL cholesterol 164 mg/dl were decreased by 73 mg/dl (29%), 83 mg/dl (41%) and 69 mg/dl (40%) respectively. Baseline HDL cholesterol, 44 mg/dl was increased 13 mg/dl (33%). Baseline apolipoprotein B, 124 mg/dl and apolipoprotein C-III (heparin precipitate) 5.6 mg/dl were decreased 40 mg/dl (31%) and 2.4 mg/dl (41%) respectively. All these changes are significant, p less than 0.01. Apolipoprotein A-I and apolipoprotein C-III (heparin supernate) were not significantly changed. In the controls, placebo and diet produced no significant decrease in blood lipid or lipoproteins, with the exception that baseline apolipoprotein B, 111 mg/dl increased 18 mg/dl (12%), p less than 0.05.
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PMID:Combined therapy of niacin, colestipol, and fat-controlled diet in men with coronary bypass. Effect on blood lipids and apolipoproteins. 665 12

The fatty acid compositions of 4 serum lipid fractions were analysed from 244 randomly selected 30-59-year-old Finnish men from 4 areas involved in a population survey ('Mini-Finland') in 1979-80. Men in eastern Finland had significantly lower mean percentages of linoleate (18:2) in CE, TG, FFA and PL (45.1, 10.3, 9.3 and 18.8%, respectively) than men in the western part of the country (48.4, 12.5, 10.6 and 20.2%, respectively). Very low values of 18:2 were encountered in the North Karelian community of Ilomantsi, especially in men aged 50-59 (40.9, 8.0, 7.5 and 16.8%, respectively). The percentage of alpha-linolenate tended also to be lower and those of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids higher in the east, but there were no or only inconsistent differences in the contents of the prostaglandin precursors dihomo-gamma-linolenate, arachidonate and eicosapentaenoate. Eighteen men were studied in November and the following April. Only minor changes in the mean composition of serum fatty acids took place during this period and the correlation coefficients between the percentages of 18:2 recorded at the two time points ranged from 0.70 to 0.81. The low concentrations of 18:2 in serum lipids in Finnish men obviously reflect a low dietary P/S ratio and may contribute to the high prevalence of IHD in Finland and to its regional differences.
Atherosclerosis 1983 Nov
PMID:Serum fatty acids in Finnish men. 666 77

The Type A behavior pattern has been identified as an important precursor of coronary atherosclerosis. However, atherosclerosis is a disease process that occurs throughout the arterial system. The present research examined the hypothesis that the Type A pattern may also be related to disease in other arteries such as the carotid arteries. Men (n = 21) and women (n = 23) from 40 to 65 years of age were examined for carotid artery atherosclerosis using doppler ultrasonography. Subjects also completed the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) to measure the Type A pattern. The results indicated that the diseased individuals were more likely to be classified as Type A (71%) than as Type B (29%), Z = 2.08, p less than 0.05. The nondiseased individuals were not more likely to be Type A (53%) than Type B (47%). The results are consistent with the hypothesis that atherosclerosis in Type A individuals is not limited to the coronary arteries but the disease is likely to occur throughout the arterial system.
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PMID:The Type A behavior pattern and carotid artery atherosclerosis. 671 31

Plasma unesterified cholesterol is converted to cholesteryl ester by the enzyme lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT). Plasma levels of LCAT were measured by a sensitive double antibody radioimmunoassay in a sample from an adult employee population, ages 20-59 years, in the Pacific Northwest. After adjusting for differences in relative body mass, women had significantly higher LCAT levels (5.90 +/- 1.06, n = 154) than men (5.49 +/- 0.89, n = 83). For ages 20-59 years, LCAT levels showed a slight association with age: r = 0.13 for men and 0.29 for women. LCAT was positively correlated with relative body mass, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol. Men who smoked cigarettes had significantly lower LCAT mass than men who did not smoke cigarettes. No statistical differences in mean LCAT values were found between drinkers and nondrinkers. The 5th percentile LCAT value was 4.3 micrograms/ml for both men and women not using hormones. The 95th percentile value was 7.3 micrograms/ml for men and 7.8 micrograms/ml for women regardless of hormone use. Subjects phenotypically LCAT-deficient by clinical criteria and by the absence or near absence of LCAT activity had levels of LCAT mass well below the reference values: 0.73 +/- 0.70, range 0.10 micrograms/ml to 2.65 micrograms/ml, n = 20. Parents or children of LCAT-deficient subjects, i.e., obligate heterozygotes for familial LCAT deficiency, had reduced levels: 3.59 +/- 0.69, range 2.59-4.61 micrograms/ml, n = 19.
Atherosclerosis 1982 Jun
PMID:Population-based reference values for lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT). 711 67

A standardized method for examining hearts and coronary arteries was applied in a study of sudden deaths in 227 autopsies of New Orleans men aged 25-49 years. Of these autopsies, 102 deaths were due to external violence, 125 were from natural causes and 45 occurred suddenly. Of the sudden natural deaths, 14 (31%) were due to coronary heart disease (CHD), seven (16%) were possibly due to CHD and 24 (53%) were due to other causes without evidence of CHD. Large recent myocardial lesions (greater than or equal to 1 cm) were present in 19 (95%) of 20 CHD deaths and in 16 (18%) of 91 non-CHD deaths. The myocardial lesions in sudden CHD deaths were subendocardial involving preferentially the posterior septum and the apex of the heart. The lesions in non-sudden CHD deaths were transmural involving preferentially the anterior, lateral and posterior left ventricle and the base of the heart. Men who died of CHD had extensive coronary atherosclerosis, while those who died of other causes had minimal coronary atherosclerosis. The large proportion of CHD deaths which occurred suddenly (70%) reaffirms the need for primary prevention and the need for improved predictive factors for early detection of CHD.
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PMID:Sudden death, coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis and myocardial lesions in young men. 743 90

In order to study whether the high frequency of exercise ST segment depressions found in primary asymptomatic hyperlipidemia were due to increased plasma fibrinogen levels and blood hematocrit and consequently higher blood viscosity these parameters were determined in fifty-four consecutive hyperlipidemic subjects. Mean plasma fibrinogen as determined by polymerization time was increased in hyperlipidemia. It did not differ between groups with and without exercise ST segment depressions. Mean hematocrit was normal in both men and women. Men with exercise ST segment depressions had lower mean hematocrit than those without (p less than 0.01). The findings speak against the view that the exercise ST segment depressions found in asymptomatic subjects with hyperlipoproteinemia should be due to increased blood viscosity. The most probable cause is a premature, subclinical atherosclerosis.
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PMID:The relation between plasma fibrinogen, blood hematocrit and exercise ST segment depressions in hyperlipoproteinemia. 746 95


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