Search results for " Stable"
showing 10 items of 202 documents
Clinical outcomes of fractional flow reserve by computed tomographic angiography-guided diagnostic strategies vs. usual care in patients with suspect…
2015
International audience; AIMS: In symptomatic patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD), computed tomographic angiography (CTA) improves patient selection for invasive coronary angiography (ICA) compared with functional testing. The impact of measuring fractional flow reserve by CTA (FFRCT) is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: At 11 sites, 584 patients with new onset chest pain were prospectively assigned to receive either usual testing (n = 287) or CTA/FFR(CT) (n = 297). Test interpretation and care decisions were made by the clinical care team. The primary endpoint was the percentage of those with planned ICA in whom no significant obstructive CAD (no stenosis \textgreater/=50% by …
Trends in the prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in Italy between 1991 and 2010
2012
The prevalence of asthma increased worldwide until the 1990s, but since then there has been no clear temporal pattern. The present study aimed to assess time trends in the prevalence of current asthma, asthma-like symptoms and allergic rhinitis in Italian adults from 1990 to 2010. The same screening questionnaire was administered by mail or phone to random samples of the general population (age 20-44 yrs) in Italy, in the frame of three multicentre studies: the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) (1991-1993; n=6,031); the Italian Study on Asthma in Young Adults (ISAYA) (1998-2000; n=18,873); and the Gene Environment Interactions in Respiratory Diseases (GEIRD) study (2007-2…
Quantifying male attractiveness
2003
Genetic models of sexual selection are concerned with a dynamic process in which female preference and male trait values coevolve. We present a rigorous method for characterizing evolutionary endpoints of this process in phenotypic terms. In our phenotypic characterization the mate-choice strategy of female population members determines how attractive females should find each male, and a population is evolutionarily stable if population members are actually behaving in this way. This provides a justification of phenotypic explanations of sexual selection and the insights into sexual selection that they provide. Furthermore, the phenotypic approach also has enormous advantages over a genetic…
A mathematical model for the phase of sexual reproduction in monogonont rotifers
2000
Recently, the optimal sex allocation in monogonont rotifers is studied in [1], and, as a closely related question, the relative frequencies of the relevant types of mictic females. The authors focus on the evolution of the age at which young mictic females lose their fertilization susceptibility and they address the threshold age of fertilization that maximizes resting egg production. Assuming that a stationary population is achieved, with stable age distribution, they obtain their results, without knowing the stationary population. Our aim is to study this problem in the framework of the theory of nonlinear age-dependent population dynamics developed by G. F. Webb in [13], which is more ap…
Multiple marker approach to risk stratification in patients with stable coronary artery disease
2010
Aims Multimarker approaches for risk prediction in coronary artery disease have remained inconsistent. We assessed multiple biomarkers representing distinct pathophysiological pathways in relation to cardiovascular events in stable angina. Methods and results We investigated 12 biomarkers reflecting inflammation [C-reactive protein, growth-differentiation factor (GDF)-15, neopterin], lipid metabolism (apolipoproteins AI, B100), renal function (cystatin C, serum creatinine), and cardiovascular function and remodelling [copeptin, C-terminal-pro-endothelin-1, mid-regional-pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM), mid-regional-pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP), N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic …
Atorvastatin in stable angina patients lowers CCL2 and ICAM1 expression: Pleiotropic evidence from plasma mRNA analyses
2013
Objective: Statin pleiotropy is still an evolving concept, and the lack of clarity on this subject is due at least in part to the lack of a definitive biomarker for statin pleiotropy. Using plasma mRNA analysis as a novel research tool for the non-invasive in vivo assessment of gene expression in vascular beds, we hypothesised that atorvastatin lowers the plasmamRNA level from statin pleiotropy-target genes, and the reduction is independent of the reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Design and methods: Forty-four patients with stable angina received atorvastatin therapy (20 mg/day, 10 weeks). Plasma chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2) and intercellular adhesion molec…
Atorvastatin treatment increases plasma bilirubin but not HMOX1 expression in stable angina patients.
2015
In vitro and animal studies indicate that statins increase heme oxygenase-1 gene (HMOX1) expression, which then, presumably, increases plasma bilirubin concentration. However, clinical confirmation that statins concomitantly increase HMOX1 expression and plasma bilirubin concentration is lacking. We hypothesized that in patients with stable angina atorvastatin therapy (20 mg/day for 10 weeks) concomitantly increases total bilirubin concentration and HMOX1 expression, as assessed non-invasively by plasma analysis.In 44 patients with stable angina plasma concentrations of total bilirubin, HMOX1 mRNA and HMOX1 protein were measured before and after the statin treatment, as well as plasma conce…
Efficacy of the long-acting nitro vasodilator pentaerithrityl tetranitrate in patients with chronic stable angina pectoris receiving anti-anginal bac…
2013
Background The organic nitrate pentaerithrityl tetranitrate (PETN) has been shown to have ancillary properties that prevent the development of tolerance and endothelial dysfunction. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre study (‘CLEOPATRA’ study) was designed to investigate the anti-ischaemic efficacy of PETN 80 mg b.i.d. (morning and mid-day) over placebo in patients with chronic stable angina pectoris. Methods and results A total of 655 patients were evaluated in the intention-to-treat population, randomized to PETN (80 mg b.i.d., n = 328) or placebo ( n = 327) and completed the study. Patients underwent treadmill exercise tests at randomization, after 6 and 12 wee…
D-dimer for risk stratification in haemodynamically stable patients with acute pulmonary embolism
2015
Patients with submassive pulmonary embolism (PE) have a higher short-term mortality than those with low-risk PE. Rapid identification of submassive PE is important for adequate treatment of non-massive PE. We aimed to investigate the utility of D-dimer for the prediction of submassive PE stadium in normotensive PE patients.Normotensive PE patients were classified into submassive or low-risk PE groups. In addition to the comparison of the groups, area under the curve (AUC) and D-dimer cut-off for the prediction of submassive PE stadium, multi-variate logistic regression for association between D-dimer values above this cut-off and submassive PE stadium were also calculated.The data of 129 no…
Facile crosslinking of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) by electro-oxidation with IrO2-based anode under potentiostatic conditions
2018
Abstract: The modification of polymer architectures by reaction with chemically adsorbed hydroxyl radicals has been thoroughly investigated by electrolyzing dilute aqueous solutions of the biocompatible polymer poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), using an undivided electrolytic cell with a Ti/IrO2–Ta2O5(DSA®) anode. Several electrolyses were performed to assess the influence of the applied potential, the circulated charge and the PVP concentration, which was always kept low to avoid chain overlapping. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that the electro-oxidation of PVP solutions using a cheap anode is an effective method to crosslink initially isolated polymer chains, eventually incre…