J C Kaski

..This study will provide valuable prospective information about the prognostic value of inflammatory markers in real life ACS patients of Mediterranean origin...

..article reviews current knowledge regarding the role of oestrogen deficiency in the pathogenesis of syndrome X and the potential therapeutic role of oestrogen replacement therapy in women with chest pain and normal coronary arteriograms..

..Controversy exists as to the causes of syndrome X and this article reviews the evidence in relation to myocardial ischaemia as a pathogenic mechanism in this syndrome...

..Reports indicate that these techniques improve quality of life...

..Whether the presence of asymptomatic ischaemic electrocardiographic changes in patients with CAD has prognostic importance and whether it needs medical or surgical treatment has been a matter of speculation for several decades...

..Different approaches, including spinal cord stimulation and psychological treatment, have been proposed especially for those patients in whom a cardiac origin of pain is unlikely...

..Why complex plaques should be particularly vulnerable to rapid stenosis progression is speculative. In this paper we discuss the possible mechanisms that may explain an association between complex stenosis and acute coronary events...

..This article discusses the problem of CSX in women, the potential pathogenic role of oestrogen deficiency, and practical clinical management...

..The OmpA PCR, when used with an IC to identify samples with PCR inhibitors, is a reliable tool. However, the sensitivity of the ICC methods justifies their continued use...

..This important finding is in keeping with previous data from animal model studies that suggest that IL-10 has a protective role in atherosclerosis...

..CONCLUSIONS: Plasma endothelin is raised in patients with coronary artery disease progression and may be a marker of risk of rapid stenosis progression. Endothelin may also play a pathogenic role in this process...

..Neopterin concentration was a stronger predictor of multiple complex plaques than were neutrophil count and CRP concentration. These findings suggest that a relation exists between inflammation and pancoronary plaque vulnerability...

..2 and 0.16, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: IMA is a more consistent marker of ischemia than iP in patients who develop chest pain and ST segment changes during PCI...

..These findings may suggest the presence of chronic inflammation with involvement of the endothelium in patients with anginal chest pain and normal coronary angiograms...

..CONCLUSIONS: IMA is highly sensitive for the diagnosis of myocardial ischaemia in patients presenting with symptoms of acute chest pain...

..The aim of the study was to assess whether Factor VII polymorphism R353Q is associated with the extent of coronary artery disease in patients with chronic stable angina...

..Total R T cosine (TCRT) is a new descriptor of repolarization heterogeneity that quantifies the deviation between the directions of ventricular depolarization and repolarization. It revives the old concept of ventricular gradient (VG)...

..We therefore sought to investigate whether C reactive protein (CRP) and neopterin correlate with LV dysfunction in patients with CSA...

..CONCLUSIONS: Rapid CAD progression in patients with stable angina pectoris is associated with increased C-reactive protein levels and raised concentrations of biochemical markers of endothelial and macrophage activation...

..We compared the 1-year predictive value of several inflammatory and non-inflammatory biomarkers in ACS patients...

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..This marker of macrophage activation may be useful for risk stratification in patients with chronic stable angina...

..We therefore sought to investigate whether cholesterol content differs in erythrocyte membranes of patients presenting with ACS compared to patients with chronic stable angina (CSA)...

..To assess, in chronic stable angina (CSA) patients, the relationship among clinical characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors, extent of coronary artery disease (CAD), and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) levels...

..01) and 1-year mortality (hazard ratio 1.038, 95% CI 1.006-1.070, P = 0.018). Ischemia-modified albumin is an independent predictor of short-and long-term adverse outcomes in patients presenting to the ED with typical acute chest pain...

..5-5.2; p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Leukocyte count is an independent predictor of ACS in patients presenting to the ED with chest pain suggestive of ACS and high hs-CRP levels are an independent predictor of clinical outcome in ACS patients...

..CONCLUSIONS: In patients with stable angina, PAPP-A and PAPP-A/proMBP ratio are associated with angiographic plaque complexity...

..We will also discuss future evolving therapies and possible predictors of plaque regression, which may aid the therapeutic process...

..Further studies are needed to determine whether the abnormality is associated with myocardial flow disturbances such that the findings can be extended to the heart...

..Increased QT dispersion may be both a substrate for sudden cardiac death and a marker of risk in patients with Prinzmetal's variant angina...

..9%, p = 0.012). Preserved systemic endothelial function appears to rule out the occurrence of transient single-photon emission computed tomographic defects in patients who have cardiac syndrome X...

..We observed that IMA levels are related to the number of inflations, inflation pressure, and duration of inflations. It is therefore likely that IMA reflects the magnitude and duration of ischemia induced during PCI...

..These results suggest that trimetazidine is a useful adjunct to our current armamentarium for the treatment of patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy...

..We hope to stimulate research to determine whether progesterone, with or without estrogen, has a role in reducing cardiovascular risk and treating cardiovascular disease including myocardial ischemia in postmenopausal women...

..Triggering of ACS by emotional stress and low socio-economic status (SES) are predictors of adverse outcomes. We therefore investigated whether emotional triggering and low SES predict depression and anxiety following ACS...

..The function and biological significance of this truncated ETA receptor is not clear, but it may have regulatory roles for cell responses to ETs...

..To investigate the association between Chlamydia pneumoniae and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in atherosclerotic plaques...

..This article reviews current knowledge regarding non-invasive assessment of endothelial dysfunction and proposes potential uses of a promising ultrasound technique...

..Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is responsible for an estimated one third of all deaths worldwide...

..Endothelial cells express hHSP60 either constitutively or under stress conditions. Circulating hHSP60-specific CD4+CD28null cells may, along other inflammatory mechanisms, contribute to vascular damage in these patients...

..01). CONCLUSIONS: Rosiglitazone reduces common carotid IMT progression in nondiabetic CAD patients, and insulin-sensitization may be one contributory mechanism...

..9-10.4); P = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: CRP levels and neutrophil count are higher in angina patients with coronary stenoses compared to those without. Neutrophil count, but not CRP levels, correlates with angiographic stenosis complexity...

..Neopterin levels, however, were independent of Cpn serostatus when combining both stable and unstable angina patients. Thus, immune activation in patients with acute coronary syndromes appears to be unrelated to Cpn seropositivity...

..However, its role in chronic kidney disease and following renal transplantation is not well established...

..Whether these favorable actions of antibiotic treatment will translate into a beneficial effect on atherogenesis and cardiac events needs further investigation...

..IMA levels have been shown to increase in patients after RF catheter ablation compared with those who undergo diagnostic electrophysiologic studies. The results of this study suggest that IMA may be a marker of myocardial injury...

..The aim of this study was to assess whether the C(-260)T polymorphism in the promoter of the CD14 receptor gene is associated with a higher prevalence of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and severity of coronary atherosclerosis...

..9, 95% confidence interval 1.8 to 7.5, p <0.001). In conclusion, admission MPO concentration is an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality in patients with STEMIs presenting with CS...

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..Our study strongly endorses the notion that an imbalance between pro and anti-inflammatory forces predisposes to plaque disruption and recurrent cardiovascular events...

..Ischemia-modified albumin levels were significantly lower in patients with collateral circulation compared with those without collateral circulation...

..However, little is known about the association between melatonin and C-reactive protein in patients with ischemic heart disease...

..Risk factors for cardiovascular disease can be modified in primary care. Electronic patient record (EPR) systems include embedded cardiovascular risk factor calculators and should facilitate this process...

..56 +/- 0.98 mmol/L, p = 0.04) levels. Thus, rosiglitazone reduced markers of inflammation and endothelial activation, but this did not translate into an improvement in FMD. Increased LDL and triglyceride levels may have played a role...

..Its presence however does not correlate with IUGR. Similarly, maternal C. pneumoniae seropositivity is not related to low birth weight. Thus C. pneumoniae infection is unlikely to play a role in the pathogenesis of IUGR...

..Similar therapeutic principles also apply to patients with type 1 diabetes. This article addresses the complex problem of managing patients with diabetes and coronary artery disease...

..Targeting the CD4(+)CD28(null) T cell subset in CAD could provide novel therapeutic strategies to prevent acute life-threatening coronary events...

..The present article reviews currently available evidence supporting a role for PAPP-A as a marker of cardiovascular risk and discusses some of the pitfalls that may limit its use in clinical practice...

..Cystatin C, a protease inhibitor synthesized in all nucleated cells, has been proposed as a replacement for serum creatinine for the assessment of renal function, particularly to detect small reductions in glomerular filtration rate...

..We observed that patients who developed adverse events during follow-up had significantly higher neopterin levels compared with patients without events...

..We sought to assess whether plasma neopterin levels predict adverse clinical outcomes in Mediterranean patients with non-ST elevation (NSTE) ACS, i.e. unstable angina (UA) and NSTE myocardial infarction (MI)...

..We sought to assess whether PAPP-A, the proform of eosinophil major basic protein (pro-MBP) and PAPP-A/pro-MBP levels predict long-term all-cause mortality in patients with CSA...

..Thus, elevated levels of IMA after cardioversion may reflect transient myocardial ischemia...

..2 to 37.3). In conclusion, CRP levels are higher in patients with degenerative AS who show rapid valve disease progression. These findings suggest that inflammation may have a pathogenic role in degenerative AS...

..These actions of melatonin permit it to reduce molecular damage and limit infarct size in experimental models of transient ischemia and subsequent reperfusion...

..We sought to investigate the relationship between IMA and melatonin in ST- elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)...

..This study was designed to assess the relation between apolipoprotein E (apoE) genotype and serum interleukin (IL)-10 levels in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and chronic stable angina (CSA)...