Search results for "Tuni"
showing 10 items of 772 documents
Atrial natriuretic factor, but not oxytocin, is present in atherosclerotic plaques of human common carotid arteries
2010
We performed a study on 25 common carotid arteries (CCA) affected by atherosclerotic plaques, comparing them to 25 normal CCA. We researched the presence and localisation of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and oxytocin (OX) by immunohistochemistry. We found ANF abundantly expressed in plaques, mainly localising in intima and subintima layers; by contrast normal vessels were scarcely positive or negative; finally, OX resulted negative or weakly positive in both atherosclerotic and normal vessels. Our results show for the first time ANF presence in atherosclerotic plaques of CCA and are in agreement with other studies, mainly performed in vitro, that hypothesise the involvement of this molecu…
Markers of Inflammation and Infection Influence the Outcome of Patients With Baseline Asymptomatic Carotid Lesions
2005
Background and Purpose— It is still in debate whether the evaluation of markers of infection and inflammation may be of importance for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular prevention, and we aimed to investigate this field in a prospective 5-year clinical follow-up study in patients with early stages of atherosclerosis. Methods— We studied 668 subjects divided in 3 groups according to the results of carotid ultrasound examination: (1) normal subjects, if intima-media thickness (IMT) was <0.9 mm; (2) with IMT, if IMT was between 0.9 and 1.5 mm; and (3) with asymptomatic carotid plaque, if IMT was >1.5 mm. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors were investigated, and laboratory analysis…
Preclinical carotid atherosclerosis enhances the global cardiovascular risk and increases the rate of cerebro- and cardiovascular events in a five-ye…
2009
AIM: To evaluate if the intima-media thickening (IMT) and asymptomatic carotid plaque (ACP), as expression of carotid preclinical atherosclerosis (pre-ATS), can provide further information on the global cardiovascular risk (GCVR). METHODS: We studied 454 asymptomatic subjects, with a cluster of risk factors (RF), and evaluated the incidence of a first cardiovascular (CV) event in a five-year follow-up. The subjects at admission were subdivided in three groups of risk. RESULTS: Events occurred in 38% of subjects at high risk, in 13% and 6% of subjects at intermediate and low risk (p<0.003). Among evaluated parameters, carotid pre-ATS was a predictive marker of CV events (OR 2.7, 95% IC 1.4-5…
Kinking, coiling, and tortuosity of extracranial internal carotid artery: is it the effect of a metaplasia?
2006
INTRODUCTION: Morphological anomalies of the extracranial internal carotid artery (ICA) cause symptomatic cerebrovascular insufficiency in 4-16% of the cases. The aim of the present study is to evaluate macroscopic and microscopic features of a group of extracranial ICA anomalies, specifically kinking, coiling, and tortuosity, eventually affecting the surgical approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 2003 to December 2005, 10 out of 169 (6%) revascularized patients (pts) were operated upon because of an ICA anomaly. They were all but two symptomatics. Seven pts were treated by ICA transection and end-to-side reimplantation of the ICA at the level of the carotid bulb; three pts were tre…
Life-time risk factors and progression of carotid atherosclerosis in young adults: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study.
2010
Aims The aim of this study is to evaluate whether childhood risk factors are associated with a 6-year change in carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in young adulthood independent of the current risk factors. Methods and results The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns cohort consisted of 1809 subjects who were followed-up for 27 years since baseline (1980, age 3–18 years) and having carotid IMT measured both in 2001 and 2007. Cardiovascular risk factors were assessed repeatedly since childhood. A genotype risk score was calculated using 17 newly identified genetic variants associating with cardiovascular morbidity. The number of childhood risk factors (high LDL-cholesterol, low HDL-cholester…
Endothelial dysfunction and carotid lesions are strong predictors of clinical events in patients with early stages of atherosclerosis: a 24-month fol…
2008
Background The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the vasodilator response to brachial artery and the presence of carotid lesions may have a prognostic significance in patients with early stages of atherosclerosis. Methods and results Vascular echography was performed to analyze flow-mediated vasodilatation (FMD) at the brachial artery and intima–media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries in 84 asymptomatic patients. At baseline, we evaluated all the established traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Transient ischemic attack, stroke, effort or unstable angina, acute myocardial infarction, peripheral arterial disease and cerebrovascular and cardiovascular death served as outc…
Impact of infectious burden on progression of carotid atherosclerosis.
2002
Background and Purpose— Recent findings suggest a causative role of infections in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The extent of atherosclerosis and the prognosis of patients with atherosclerosis seem to be increased by the number of infections to which an individual has been exposed. In a prospective study, we evaluated the effect of 8 pathogens and the aggregate pathogen burden on the progression of carotid atherosclerosis. Methods— In 504 patients (74.9% men; age, 62.9±10 years), we measured intima-media thickness and prevalence of carotid artery stenosis. Follow-up measurements after a mean of 2.5 years were available in 427 patients (85%). Blood samples were taken, and IgG or IgA …
External stenting with a new polyester mesh reduces neointimal hyperplasia of vein grafts in a sheep model.
2007
Objective External stents placed around vein grafts have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing neointimal hyperplasia by preventing distension of the thin-walled vein grafts when exposed to arterial pressure. However, the ideal stent material has yet to be defined. The following study investigates the short- and long-term effects of an innovative polyester mesh stent designed with optimized adaptation of circumferential compliance. Methods Following in vitro definition of the ideal macro-porous polyester stent material, a total of 12 sheep underwent implantation of bilateral carotid artery vein graft bypasses. In six sheep, the short-term outcome (four weeks of implantation) was investigat…
Association of elevated fibrinogen and C-reactive protein levels with carotid lesions in patients with newly diagnosed hypertension or type II diabet…
2006
BACKGROUND: Inflammation may be important for accelerated progression of atherosclerosis in patients with hypertension or diabetes, but few studies included subjects with early stages of atherosclerosis such as those with asymptomatic carotid lesions. METHODS: We studied 100 patients with newly diagnosed hypertension and another 100 patients with newly diagnosed type II diabetes to evaluate in such groups the association of two markers of inflammation, fibrinogen and C-reactive protein (CRP), with carotid atherosclerosis, beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., older age, male gender, obesity, smoking, family history of CAD, dyslipidemia). RESULTS: We found positive correlatio…
Sex differences in early carotid atherosclerosis (from the community-based Gutenberg-Heart Study).
2010
The objectives of this study were to describe gender differences in intima-media thickness (IMT) in a community-based population study and to define normal IMT values for healthy men and women. In total, 4,814 participants (aged 35 to 74 years; 2,433 men, 2,381 women) from the Gutenberg-Heart Study (GHS) were included. IMT was measured at both common carotid arteries using an edge detection system. Median IMT was 0.62 mm (25th percentile 0.55, 75th percentile 0.70) in women and 0.65 mm (25th percentile 0.57, 75th percentile 0.75) in men and was significantly associated with age (p0.0001). On multivariate analysis, advanced age, smoking, and arterial hypertension were positively associated w…