Gerd Assmann

..Although several scoring schemes have been suggested to calculate this profile, many omit information on important variables such as family history of coronary heart disease or LDL cholesterol...

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..Lp(a) has not been specifically tested as a target for intervention, but it is included in the new guidelines where it is regarded as an important modifier of global risk...

..This inference must however be substantiated by further studies before it becomes part of the general recommendations for treatment...

..This study was conducted to evaluate if the modest sitosterol elevations seen in the general population are also associated with the occurrence of coronary events...

..However, HDL-C should be considered as part of the patient's overall profile of established risk factors in determining treatment strategies...

..To investigate pulse pressure (PP) as an independent predictor of coronary heart disease (CHD) risk...

..This article reviews the progress that has been made toward reaching these goals based on the results of the PROspective Cardiovascular Münster (PROCAM) study...

..This review summarizes current views on the molecular mechanism underlying these atheroprotective effects of HDL...

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..However, there is a paucity of published data concerning the effects of combined treatment using HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) and a cholesterol absorption inhibitor (ezetimibe) on these parameters...

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..We conclude that ABCA1 transduces signals from apoA-I by complexing and activating Cdc42 and downstream kinases and, therefore, acts as a full apoA-I receptor...

..Our study points to detoxification as one of potential cellular functions of ABCG1. We assume that ABCG1 protects against 7beta-HC-induced cell death, an important role in prevention of neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease...

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..We conclude that activation of p38MAPK is required for the inhibitory effect of LDL on Na+/H+ antiport and thereby for LDL-dependent sensitization in human platelets...

..We examined if this holds true for men in the Prospective Cardiovascular Münster Study (PROCAM)...

..This data is consistent with a model in which ARL7 is involved in transport between a perinuclear compartment and the plasma membrane apparently linked to the ABCA1-mediated cholesterol secretion pathway...

..These results for the first time demonstrate activation of Rho family G proteins and stress kinases by apoA-I and implicate the involvement of Cdc42 and JNK in the apoA-I-induced cholesterol efflux...

..As HDL-SPM was previously shown to correlate with cholesterol efflux capacity of plasma, we conclude that reduced cholesterol efflux capacity is an important factor accounting for the inverse association between HDL-cholesterol and CHD...

..Apo A-I stimulates phosphatidylcholine breakdown and thereby facilitates cholesterol efflux, whereas LSF and SPC trigger PI-PLC activation and thereby stimulate cell proliferation...

..Our aim was to determine if the indices of cholesterol synthesis and absorption show a graded relationship with severity of metabolic syndrome...

..Thus, it is proposed that serum leptin levels were affected by the high amount of alpha-linolenic acid in rapeseed oil. However, questions remain as to why this diet differently affected serum leptin in men and women...

..The impaired release of the content of dense bodies may explain the defective activation of Tangier platelets by collagen and low concentrations of thrombin, but not by ADP...

..Our results support that ABCG1(666) may in fact be the most prominent form of functional ABCG1 expressed in the human...

..Therefore, our results indicate that at least some of the multiple restriction fragments which are detected by Southern hybridization analyses with SCP-x cDNA-derived probes can be explained by cross-hybridization with a pseudogene...

..Circular dichroism results showed that Leu20 and Asp70 may serve to stabilize the overall fold, whereas residue 104 appears to play a role in the specific lipid binding and/or transfer activity of SCP2...

..Our analysis suggests that use of the MLP to identify high-risk individuals as candidates for drug treatment would allow prevention of 25% of coronary events in middle-aged men, compared to 15% and 11% with LR and the PNN, respectively...

..The present study was undertaken to investigate whether modulation of S1P signaling would affect atherosclerosis in a murine model of disease...

..IGFs and their binding proteins (IGFBPs) are produced both systemically and locally by cells of the cardiovascular system. As growth promoters, they may play a role in atherosclerosis...

..This mechanism may contribute to the vasoactive effect of HDL and represent a novel aspect of its antiatherogenic function...

..7%) than the IDF criteria (5.5%) had a cardiovascular event. In conclusion, although the prevalence of MS was higher when the IDF criteria were used in the German sample, the IDF criteria have lower predictive power for coronary events...

..Downregulation of ABCA1 by unsaturated fatty acids and acetoacetate may contribute to low HDL cholesterol and increased cardiovascular risk of diabetic patients...

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..In conclusion, diets rich in unsaturated fatty acids, independent of the degree of unsaturation, gender and apo A-IV genotype, increase plasma apo A-IV concentrations compared with a baseline diet rich in SFA in healthy men and women...

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..Even after 9 months, only 21.3% of men and 17.3% of women with manifest atherosclerosis reached target LDL. CONCLUSIONS: Most high-risk patients do not achieve LDL targets. Overtreatment of low-risk groups is also very common...

..In this review, we discuss the latest developments concerning the potential atheroprotective role of HDL-associated lysosphingolipids...

..Altogether these data may indicate that the role of these phospholipids is a regulatory one rather than that of a bulk mediator of cholesterol solubilization in sterol trafficking and efflux...

..In conclusion, the suppression of gonadotropins appears to have a moderate anti-atherogenic effect. The effect of testosterone appears to be either neutral or opposed by gonadotropins...

..Tibolone lowers HDL-cholesterol by 20% but the clinical significance of this effect is unknown...

..The purpose of this review is to summarize the novel functions of HDL that may protect from atherosclerosis and senescence...

..For each participant, the predicted absolute risk of fatal plus non-fatal events was derived using Framingham risk equations. Predicted and actually observed risks were compared...

..These data suggest that testosterone, despite lowering HDL cholesterol, intensifies reverse cholesterol transport and thereby exerts an anti-atherogenic rather than a pro-atherogenic effect...

..This complexity further emphasizes that changes in the functionality of HDL rather than changes of plasma HDL-cholesterol levels determine the anti-atherogenicity of therapeutic alterations of HDL metabolism...

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..We analyzed plasma N-terminal prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels and cardiac function in patients with HF of various etiologies, and who were treated with or without statins...

..5 mmol/L). However, a lower-fat diet is more suitable for some subjects with more distinctly elevated triglyceride concentrations...

..The QT interval in the surface ECG is one of the most often used risk stratifiers in families with congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS). The best ECG lead for clinical management of LQTS families remains unclear...

..Because IL-6 is excessively released into the circulation during sepsis and closely correlates with the clinical course, we studied whether this promoter polymorphism has an effect on the incidence and/or outcome of sepsis...

..We developed a genotyping technique based on the mutagenically separated polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR) which may be useful in the clinical risk assessment...

..Using large sample sizes and a replication study approach, we found evidence for a role of a polymorphism in the nitric oxide synthase 3 gene in stroke onset...

..We conclude that IL-1beta is secreted from monocytes by an ABCA1-independent pathway and from macrophages by ABCA1-dependent and -independent pathways...

..To study the relative contribution of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and HLA-DRB1 polymorphisms to the genetic susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) via an extended haplotype analysis...

..Widespread use of this score would lead to massive over-treatment. For this reason, we cannot recommend this score for general use...

..We analysed the association of IL-10 promoter microsatellite polymorphisms with disease susceptibility and manifestations in German Caucasian patients with SLE...

..Moreover, the lack of alpha-LpA-I in TD plasma together with its failure to convert exogenous apo A-I into an alpha-migrating particle provide specific tests for the diagnosis of TD...

..To analyse the association of interleukin 10 (IL10) promoter polymorphisms, which have been shown to be related to IL10 secretion capacity, with the response to long term treatment with etanercept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)...

..Further studies are needed to corroborate the pathogenic role of TGF-beta1 in SLE patients and to identify the precise genetic elements controlling its production...

..6 and an intratumoral EGFR concentration of more than 56 fmol/mg, (b) an intratumoral p185c-erbB-2 concentration above 26 HNU/mg and (c) a quotient of egfr and c-erbB-2 average gene copy numbers of less than 0.15 and greater than 4.35...

..BACKGROUND and..

..In conclusion, in the present study neither homozygosity for the 4G allele of the PAI-1 4G/5G-polymorphism nor the FV:Q506 mutation led to an increased risk of myocardial infarction in young men...

..An in-frame insertion-deletion in exon 12 was found in the second family. Our findings indicate that defects in ABC1, encoding a member of the ABC transporter superfamily, are the cause of TD...

..In this paper we analyse the reasons for the current lack of predictive power of genetics-based algorithms and we speculate why future developments might open the door to a role for genetics in the clinical management of atherosclerosis...

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..Second, the cells appeared to contain an intrinsic inhibitor of the enzymatic fluorometric method...

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..Since this dyslipoproteinemia meets the criteria of LHDL/HTG, it is intriguing to speculate that missense mutations in HTGL may play a role in the pathogenesis of this atherogenic phenotype...

..US studies showed that only 57% of the population knew at least one stroke symptom. This is the first study about stroke knowledge among German populations...

..We conclude that the 80 kDa type IV 17 beta-HSD represents a potentially multifunctional protein with intrinsic in vitro sterol and phospholipid transfer activity in addition to its enzymatic activity...

..The greater than normal cardiovascular risk of hypertensive patients could be partly due to an impairment of hemostatic balance found in such individuals...

..We conclude that FVIIc is a risk factor for CHD, especially in the presence of additional risk factors, and must be taken into account when assessing cardiovascular risk in men...

..Transformation of macrophages into foam cells results in reduced expression of selectin-binding ligands on the surface of such cells...

..We conclude that DSS also exists as a distinct genetic entity with autosomal recessive inheritance as originally defined by Dejerine and Sottas in 1893...

..E4/4 macrophages secrete the most apoE but lack effective net cholesterol efflux due to enhanced surface binding and reuptake of cholesterol-rich particles...

..These results corresponded to high-affinity binding of phytanoyl-CoA to the recombinant rat SCP2 protein, as well as high 3-ketopristanoyl-CoA thiolase activity of the recombinant rat SCPx protein...

..We suggest that blood-borne epithelium-derived c-erbB-2-positive clustered cells are the possible precursor cells responsible for the formation of distant metastases and bone marrow micrometastases...

..On the whole, we can give further support to the hypothesis that cardiovascular risk factors and coronary heart disease may be linked by plasma viscosity...

..To investigate this question, we analyzed all deaths occurring among middle-aged men in the Münster Heart Study (PROCAM), one of the largest prospective epidemiological studies of coronary heart disease risk markers in Europe...

..Apo E and gamma-LpE are of special interest for reverse cholesterol transport since macrophages can produce apo E...

..The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of stroke and the magnitude of classic stroke risk factors in an occupational cohort of white-collar and blue-collar workers...

..05 at D9S1784). We also provide evidence that TD may be due to a loss-of-function defect...

..However, our results suggest that this gene mutation plays an aetiological role in the subgroup of patients suffering from 'cryptogenic' ischaemic events...

..In conclusion, our results suggest that diacylglycerol released due to the PC-PLC activation contributes to the thapsigargin-induced Na(+) entry...

..These results suggest a regulatory role for PLD in store-operated Ca2+ entry in VSMC...

..72 mmol/L glucose may help to reduce the previously reported discordance between impaired fasting glucose (American Diabetes Association) and impaired glucose tolerance (WHO) in diagnosis of the prediabetic state...

..QT dispersion and QT product might be helpful in finding LQTS mutation carriers and might serve as additional ECG tools to identify asymptomatic LQTS patients...

..The strong and specific mitogenic effect of HDL should be taken into account, when therapeutic strategies to elevate the plasma level of these lipoproteins are developed...

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..This is even more the case in patients with such evidence (secondary prevention). It appears that lowering of LDL-C also reduces all-cause mortality in secondary prevention...

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..The physiologic role of BNP, by contrast, is less clear. ANP and BNP are not predictors for the severity of illness and mortality in critically ill patients...

..Thus, the combined measurement of apolipoprotein A-I and C-peptide may improve the identification of nondiabetic patients at increased risk for CHD...

..6 kb in size on chromosome 11q23.3. Based on its structural features and an LXR/RXR-responsive regulation similar to the cellular lipid export protein ABCA1, we conclude that ABCG4 may be involved in macrophage lipid homeostasis...

..We conclude that changes in insulin do not contribute to the lowering of HDL cholesterol by tibolone. Despite decreased HDL cholesterol, putatively anti-atherogenic activities of HDL remained unchanged...

..The objective of this study was to compare the effects of dietary monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on LDL composition and oxidizability...

..A biallelic polymorphism (--174 G/C) within the interleukin-6 (IL-6) promoter reportedly has functional importance through the modulation of IL-6 expression in vitro and in vivo...

..Inhibition of ABCA1 in HMDM prevented the occurrence of anti-apoE-immunoreactive granular structures in the plasma membrane. We conclude that ABCA1 and, to a lesser extent, ABC8 both promote secretion of apoE from human macrophages...

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..It is suggested, however, that the serum level of HDL cholesterol does not necessarily reflect the efficacy of reverse cholesterol transport...

..Instead, the concentration of HDL subclasses, the mobilization of cellular lipids for efflux, and the kinetics of HDL metabolism are important determinants of RCT and the risk of atherosclerosis...