Search results for "Cardial"
showing 10 items of 1384 documents
Role of the pyrin M694V (A2080G) allele in acute myocardial infarction and longevity: a study in the Sicilian population
2006
Abstract A proinflammatory genotype seems to contribute significantly to the risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD). Conversely, the susceptibility alleles to inflammatory disease should be infrequent in the genetic background favoring longevity. In fact, in a modern environment, attainment of longevity is facilitated by an anti-inflammatory status. To evaluate whether inflammatory alleles of pyrin, the gene responsible for familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) may play an opposite role in CHD and in longevity, we examined three FMF-associated mutations, M694V (A2080G), M694I (G2082A), and V726A (T2177C), encoded by the FMF gene (MEFV) in 121 patients affected by acute myocardial infa…
Comparison of three accelerated pulse sequences for semiquantitative myocardial perfusion imaging using sensitivity encoding incorporating temporal f…
2007
Purpose To investigate the parallel acquisition technique sensitivity encoding incorporating temporal filtering (TSENSE) with three saturation-recovery (SR) prepared pulse sequences (SR turbo fast low-angle shot [SR-TurboFLASH], SR true fast imaging with steady precession [SR-TrueFISP], and SR-prepared segmented echo-planar-imaging [SR-segEPI]) for semiquantitative first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging. Materials and Methods In blood- and tissue-equivalent phantoms the relationship between signal intensity (SI) and contrast-medium concentration was evaluated for the three pulse sequences. In volunteers, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and normalized upslopes (N…
Positive inotropic response to 5-HT in human atrial but not in ventricular heart muscle
1992
The effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) on force of contraction (FC), action potential (AP) and calcium current (ICa) were studied in human right atrial and left ventricular heart muscle. 5-HT exerted a concentration-dependent increase in FC in multicellular atrial preparations; the EC50 was approximately 3 x 10(-7) mol/l. Maximal increases in FC (252 +/- 58% of control values; mean +/- SEM, n = 6) were obtained at 5-HT 10(-5) mol/l. At this concentration, ICa was increased four- to sevenfold in enzymatically isolated atrial myocytes. In contrast, ventricular preparations did not respond to 5-HT; FC, AP and ICa remained unaffected. In the same preparations, FC was increased by isoprenalin…
Multislice multiecho T2* cardiac magnetic resonance for the detection of heterogeneous myocardial iron distribution in thalassaemia patients
2009
The present study investigated myocardial T2* heterogeneity in thalassaemia major (TM) patients by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), to determine whether is related to inhomogeneous iron overload distribution. A total of 230 TM patients consecutively referred to our laboratory were studied retrospectively. Three short-axis views (basal, medium and apical) of the left ventricle (LV) were obtained by multislice multiecho T2* CMR. T2* segmental distribution was mapped on a 16-segment LV model. The level of heterogeneity of the T2* segmental distribution, evaluated by the coefficient of variation (CoV), was compared with that of a surrogate data set, to determine whether the inhomogeneous segme…
Changes over time in risk factors for cardiovascular disease and use of lipid-lowering drugs in HIV-infected individuals and impact on myocardial inf…
2008
Background. Because of the known relationship between exposure to combination antiretroviral therapy and cardiovascular disease (CVD), it has become increasingly important to intervene against risk of CVD in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. We evaluated changes in risk factors for CVD and the use of lipid-lowering therapy in HIV-infected individuals and assessed the impact of any changes on the incidence of myocardial infarction. Methods. The Data Collection on Adverse Events of Anti-HIV Drugs Study is a collaboration of 11 cohorts of HIV-infected patients that included follow-up for 33,389 HIV-infected patients from December 1999 through February 2006. Results. The pro…
Progression of coronary artery calcification and cardiac events in patients with chronic renal disease not receiving dialysis
2011
We tested for the presence of coronary calcifications in patients with chronic renal disease not on dialysis and studied its progression in 181 consecutive non-dialyzed patients who were followed for a median of 745 days. Coronary calcifications (calcium score) were tallied in Agatston units by computed tomography, and the patients were stratified into two groups by their baseline calcium score (100 U or less and over 100 U). Survival was measured by baseline calcium score and its progression. Cardiac death and myocardial infarction occurred in 29 patients and were significantly more frequent in those patients with calcium scores over 100 U (hazard ratio of 4.11). With a calcium score of 10…
Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells Improve Left Ventricular Function, Induce Angiogenesis, and Reduce Infarct Size in Rats with Acute Myocardial Infarction
2008
Abstract Human dental pulp contains precursor cells termed dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) that show self-renewal and multilineage differentiation and also secrete multiple proangiogenic and antiapoptotic factors. To examine whether these cells could have therapeutic potential in the repair of myocardial infarction (MI), DPSC were infected with a retrovirus encoding the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and expanded ex vivo. Seven days after induction of myocardial infarction by coronary artery ligation, 1.5 × 106 GFP-DPSC were injected intramyocardially in nude rats. At 4 weeks, cell-treated animals showed an improvement in cardiac function, observed by percentage changes in anterior wall thic…
Pro-inflammatory gene variants in myocardial infarction and longevity: implications for pharmacogenomics.
2008
Inflammation and genetics play an important role in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, despite the increasing appreciation of the role of genetics in CHD and myocardial infarction (MI) pathogenesis, pharmacogenomic approaches to uncover drug target have not been extensively explored. Cyclo-oxygenases (COXs) and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) are the key enzymes in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins (PG) and leukotrienes (LT) and are implicated in a wide variety of inflammatory disorders, including atherosclerosis. In fact, PGE2 activates Matrix Metallo-proteinases whereas LTB4 is a chemoactractant for monocytes and activates gene expression in inflammatory c…
Myocardial infarction marker levels are influenced by prothrombin and tumor necrosis factor-α gene polymorphisms in young patients.
2012
Polymorphisms of genes encoding key factors for the control and activation of inflammatory response and coagulation cascade regulation may play a role in genetic susceptibility to acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study sought to analyze the effect of TNF - 308G/A and pro-thrombin (FII) 20210G/A polymorphisms on the laboratory parameters of young patients affected by AMI. Results indicated that TNF - 308A positive genotype frequencies were increased in these patients and that a genetically determined higher production of TNF-alpha is associated in young subjects to a more severe cardiac damage as depicted by higher levels of troponin, Creatine kinase-MB Isoenzyme (mCK-MB) and a signif…
The DD genotype of the angiotensin converting enzyme gene independently associates with CMR-derived abnormal microvascular perfusion in patients with…
2009
Abstract Introduction The role of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene on the result of thrombolysis at the microvascular level has not been addressed so far. We analyzed the implications of the insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the ACE gene on the presence of abnormal cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR)-derived microvascular perfusion after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Materials and Methods We studied 105 patients with a first anterior STEMI treated with thrombolytic agents and an open left anterior descending artery. Microvascular perfusion was assessed using first-pass perfusion CMR at 7 ±1 days. CMR studies were repeated 184 ± 11 days after STEM…