Search results for "Cardial"
showing 10 items of 1384 documents
A semi-automatic approach for epicardial adipose tissue segmentation and quantification on cardiac CT scans
2019
Abstract Many studies have shown that epicardial fat is associated with a higher risk of heart diseases. Accurate epicardial adipose tissue quantification is still an open research issue. Considering that manual approaches are generally user-dependent and time-consuming, computer-assisted tools can considerably improve the result repeatability as well as reduce the time required for performing an accurate segmentation. Unfortunately, fully automatic strategies might not always identify the Region of Interest (ROI) correctly. Moreover, they could require user interaction for handling unexpected events. This paper proposes a semi-automatic method for Epicardial Fat Volume (EFV) segmentation a…
Epicardial Adipose Tissue Accumulation and Essential Hypertension in Non-Obese Adults
2019
Background and Objectives: Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is shown to be an important factor in the development of coronary artery disease, but numerous pathophysiological mechanisms of its action are still only partially understood. There is a lack of studies on its association with different grades of essential hypertension (EH). Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the association between size of EAT depots and the risk of EH taking into account its grade. Materials and Methods: Non-obese adult patients with various cardiovascular diseases were investigated: 157 of them had essential hypertension and 101 did not. Hypertensive patients were assigned to three groups according to the grade of h…
Incidence of symptomatic venous thromboembolism following hospitalization for coronavirus disease 2019: Prospective results from a multi-center study
2021
Background Thrombosis and pulmonary embolism appear to be major causes of mortality in hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. However, few studies have focused on the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) after hospitalization for COVID-19. Methods In this multi-center study, we followed 1529 COVID-19 patients for at least 45 days after hospital discharge, who underwent routine telephone follow-up. In case of signs or symptoms of pulmonary embolism (PE) or deep vein thrombosis (DVT), they were invited for an in-hospital visit with a pulmonologist. The primary outcome was symptomatic VTE within 45 days of hospital discharge. Results Of 1529 COVID-19 patients discharge…
Opposite effects of interleukin 10 common gene polymorphisms in cardiovascular diseases and in successful ageing: genetic background of male centenar…
2004
Many aspects of ageing involve inflammatory processes. We evaluated the association with longevity of alleles of IL10 and TNFa, known to have opposite functions in inflammatory reactions, IL-10 acting predominantly as an anti-inflammatory and TNF-a as a proinflammatory factor. The number of male centenarians homozygous for the –1082G genotype, suggested to be associated with high IL-10 production, was significantly increased in comparison with younger control subjects. No significant differences were observed between women and controls. The genotypic frequencies of the TNFa promoter SNPs 308G and 308A, suggested to be associated with low and high TNF-a production respectively, were not sign…
RUPTURE OF A LEFT SINUS OF VALSALVA ANEURYSM INTO THE PULMONARY ARTERY.
2006
Sinus of Valsalva aneurysm is a rare congenital defect and the diagnosis is usually made after it ruptures. Very few cases of non-complicated sinus of Valsalva aneurysm have been published. The anomaly most often involves the right coronary sinus and less frequently the non-coronary sinus. A case with left sinus of Valsalva has not been reported. Since the aortic valve occupies a central position in the base of the heart, rupture of a sinus of Valsalva aneurysm can occur in any of the four heart chambers. Rupture into the pulmonary artery is very rare and is mostly associated with other congenital cardiopathies. ª 2005 The European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All right…
Acute Myocardial Infarction and Proinflammatory Gene Variants
2007
We identified four genetic risk sets for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) from information on functional gene variants that favor inflammation or modulate cholesterol metabolism: IL6 -174 G/C, TNF -308 G/A, IL10 -1082 G/A, SERPINA3 -51 G/T, IFNG +874 T/A, HMGCR -911 C/A, and APOE ε2/3/4; 316 patients and 461 healthy subjects, all Italian. Putative risk alleles are shown underlined. The sets were identified using grade-of-membership analysis. Membership scores in the sets are automatically generated for individuals. The ''low intrinsic risk'' set had alleles that downregulate inflammation and cholesterol synthesis (IL6, TNF, ILl0, HMGCR). ''AMI across a broad age range'' carried multiple pr…
Apolipoprotein E Genotypic Frequencies Among Down Syndrome Patients Imply Early Unsuccessful Aging for ApoE4 Carriers
2007
Down syndrome (DS) might be considered a model for unsuccessful and early aging, possibly accelerated for those who carry the APOE4 allele associated with common age-related diseases, e.g., Alzheimer's disease and a poor prognosis after acute myocardial infarction, causing lower ApoE4 frequencies among the very old in general populations. We compared ApoE genotypic frequencies found for healthy adults (n = 211, age 90) to those found for DS patients (n = 106, mean age 9 years), all living in western Sicily. We found that the frequency of the ApoE23 genotype increased with age among the healthy adults (8.5%, 6.4%, 19.7%; p = 0.024) while ApoE34 frequency decreased (16.1%, 12.6%, 4.1%; p = 0.…
Prevalence of Apolipoprotein E Alleles in Healthy Subjects and Survivors of Ischemic Stroke
1998
Background and Purpose —The ε4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (apoE) has been related to the occurrence of myocardial infarction, but its association with ischemic stroke is controversial. We have evaluated the relation between apoE alleles and the occurrence of cerebrovascular ischemia. Methods —The apoE ε genotypes of 100 patients with a documented history of ischemic stroke without clinically apparent dementia (stroke+) and 108 subjects without such history (stroke−) were determined. The relative frequency of the apoE alleles and genotypes was estimated in 398 healthy subjects aged <40 years from the same ethnic background. Results —The frequency of the apoE ε4 allele in stroke+ (0.1…
Learning by heart : cardiac cycle reveals an effective time window for learning
2018
Cardiac cycle phase is known to modulate processing of simple sensory information. This effect of the heartbeat on brain function is likely exerted via baroreceptors, the neurons sensitive for changes in blood pressure. From baroreceptors, the signal is conveyed all the way to the forebrain and the medial prefrontal cortex. In the two experiments reported, we examined whether learning, as a more complex form of cognition, can be modulated by the cardiac cycle phase. Human participants ( experiment 1) and rabbits ( experiment 2) were trained in trace eyeblink conditioning while neural activity was recorded. The conditioned stimulus was presented contingently with either the systolic or dias…
Association between platelet endothelial cellular adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1/CD31) polymorphisms and acute myocardial infarction: a study in patien…
2004
Summary Adhesion of circulating cells to the arterial surface is among the first detectable events in atherogenesis. Cellular adhesion molecules, expressed by the vascular endothelium and by circulating leucocytes, mediate cell recruitment and their transendothelial migration. Platelet endothelial cellular adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1/CD31), involved in this migration, has been associated with the developmental course of atherosclerosis. A few studies have investigated an association between coronary heart disease and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in functionally important domains of the PECAM-1/CD31 gene. In particular, Ser563Asn and Gly670Arg SNPs have been described as s…