M L Bots

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..This study investigated the association between electrocardiographically assessed left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and fatal, non-fatal, haemorrhagic and ischaemic stroke in four European cohorts participating in EUROSTROKE...

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..Yet, no published report has dealt with this issue in detail...

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..This paper investigated the association of total and HDL cholesterol level to fatal and non-fatal, and haemorrhagic and ischaemic stroke in four European cohorts participating in EUROSTROKE...

..Hence, B-mode ultrasonography is being used increasingly to elucidate the efficacy of new therapies, enabling the benefits of treatment to be established more rapidly and with fewer patients compared with clinical outcome trials...

..We aimed at providing an overview of epidemiological data on carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and arterial stiffness measurements and their relation to risk of cardiovascular disease...

..However, the absolute values obtained using this approach vary considerably across studies. We studied whether technical aspects of the methodology can explain the wide variety in absolute values across studies...

..Additional stratified analyses indicated that an increased TAT level was the primary factor related to dementia. The present study provides evidence that predominantly increased thrombin generation is associated with dementia...

..82-5.63), respectively. No association was found for APC response. We showed a nonsignificant twofold increased risk of dementia among subjects with factor V Leiden. The association appeared to be stronger for vascular dementia...

..We discuss the various options and provide a pooled estimate of CIMT progression. In addition, we quantify the effect of these choices on the sample size for a RCT...

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..The PERFECT study was designed to verify the above mentioned pathophysiological concepts...

..The OPAL study results are expected to complement other studies on atherosclerosis progression in healthy postmenopausal women...

..This study investigated the association between fibrinogen and fatal, non-fatal, haemorrhagic and ischaemic stroke in three European cohorts participating in EUROSTROKE...

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..We determined the contribution of common carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in the prediction of future coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease when added to established risk factors...

..Automated edge detection is thought to be superior to manual edge detection in quantification of the far wall common carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), yet published evidence making a direct comparison is not available...

..Insights in absolute mortality risks following admission for PAD in the lower extremities can be useful to improve awareness as they are easy to interpret...

..We studied these aspects in the Measuring Effects on intima media Thickness: an Evaluation Of Rosuvastatin (METEOR) study, a randomized placebo-controlled trial amongst 984 low-risk subjects...

..01; 1.41), but not for AIx (4.60% (95% CI 1.34; 7.85)). In summary, low-grade inflammation seems to be independently related to increase of aortic artery stiffness over and above traditional risk factors and atherosclerosis...

..06 (95% CI -0.01; 0.13)). The results of this study do not support the presence of an independent relationship between circulating tHcy levels and large artery stiffness and thickness...

..CONCLUSION: Adolescent BMI predicts cardiovascular risk, as estimated by common CIMT in young adulthood. Individuals who experience the largest increase in BMI and those who remain overweight over time have the thickest common CIMT...

..To investigate the prevalence and determinants of unrecognised myocardial infarction (UMI). Design, setting,..

..Here we evaluate whether strict implementation of guidelines aimed at multiple targets with the aid of nurse practitioners (NP) improves management in patients with CKD...

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..Yet, short-term mortality is not significantly higher in diabetic patients. Risks appear to be equally elevated in men and women...

..02% risk/SD birth length; 95% CI: -0.04, 0.0001). These results suggest that small birth size is associated with an increased risk score for coronary artery disease in young adulthood...

..However, studies show conflicting results and are limited to elderly subjects. To study this issue further, we evaluated the relation of arterial stiffness to subclinical atherosclerosis in 524 healthy young adults, aged 27-30 years...

..Tibolone did not alter fmd. The clinical significance of this improvement in fmd for cardiovascular disease risk needs to be established...

..Information on incidence of stroke is important for developing and maintaining public health strategies in primary and secondary prevention. Nationwide data on the incidence of stroke are scarce and absent for the Netherlands...

..We compared different ultrasound protocols in a post-hoc analysis in the 'Osteoporosis Prevention and Arterial effects of tiboLone' (OPAL) study, a 3-year randomized controlled trial among healthy postmenopausal women...

..These findings support the view that AIx may be used as a marker for early vascular damage and cardiovascular disease risk...

..Changes appear to be more pronounced in postmenopausal women compared to perimenopausal women...

..A short questionnaire with one or two questions is recommended for example the one from the Boxmeer-study. These data may be used to adjust (age-specific) prevalence rates comparing ED prevalence in the open population across studies...

..CONCLUSION: The incidence of sudden cardiac death is markedly increased on Monday, similar for men and women, and for subjects below and above 65 years of age...

..This knowledge enhances the understanding of atherosclerosis development and CVD risk and is needed to improve the available primary prevention programs...

..Background: We recently showed that AMi patients can be followed longitudinally within dutch national medical registrations in a valid way. This makes it possible to provide nationwide incidence estimates of first AMi in the Netherlands...

..CONCLUSIONS: In a population-based cohort of men aged 40-80 years the relation of alcohol consumption level with AIx was U-shaped, further expanding the evidence for vascular protective effects of moderate alcohol intake...

..02 [95% CI: 0.89; 1.16]). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that in patients with manifest arterial disease, increasing hemoglobin levels are associated with reduced severity of atherosclerosis...

..To identify plaque characteristics of carotid artery radiation-induced stenosis...

..Data on the effect of vitamin K intake on coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, however, are scarce. To examine the relationship between dietary vitamins K(1) and K(2) intake, and its subtypes, and the incidence of CHD...

..It is likely that carotid plaques in neurologically asymptomatic subjects are both markers of generalized atherosclerosis and sources of thromboemboli...

..We studied the relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and echolucency of the carotid intima-media in low-risk individuals...

..5 microm [SE 9.5] versus 397.3 microm [SE 9.6]). These results suggest that the distensibility of the common carotid artery is negatively affected by natural menopause in presumed healthy women...

..Our results may point to the relevance of naturally occurring rhythmic fluctuations in human physiology, and socially determined rhythms in human behaviour as underlying mechanism...

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..Yet, studies into differences between men and women in survival after a stroke yielded inconsistent results. We investigated whether gender was associated with all-cause mortality after hospital admission for stroke...

..Our data suggest that hypertension, smoking, and reduced serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, combined with unfavorable increases in hemostatic factors, may be related to carotid artery disease in the elderly...

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..We aimed to (1) compare the value of NIRS related to existing cerebral monitoring techniques in prediction of perioperative cerebral ischaemia and (2) compare the relation between NIRS and the occurrence of CHS...

..CONCLUSION: In young men, PWV and CIMT are better measures of CHD risk than AIx. In women, AIx, PWV and CIMT estimate CHD risk equally well...

..Conclusions: Both TCD and NIRS measurements can be used to safely identify patients not at risk of developing CHS. It appears that NIRS is a good alternative when a TCD signal cannot be obtained...

..CONCLUSIONS: Stroke incidence increases with age, also in the very old. Although the incidence rate is higher in men than in women over the entire age range, the lifetime risks were similar for both sexes...

..To estimate the influence of information on the coronary arteries obtained from routine thoraco-abdominal CT angiography (CTA) on pre-operative clinical management in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) patients...

..There seems to be ample room for improvement in implementing the guidelines. Probably, patient tailored interventions and a multisiciplinary and multimodality approach can support this improvement...

..For this purpose 1000 subjects with chronic hypertension will undergo cardiac MR imaging. In addition, this study allows the extrapolation of animal experimental genetic research into the human situation. (Neth Heart J 2007;15:295-8.)...

..The Perindopril-Function of the Endothelium in Coronary artery disease Trial (PERFECT) evaluated whether long-term administration of perindopril improves endothelial dysfunction...

..Management of hypertension is too often not risk-based despite recommendations in guidelines on prevention of cardiovascular diseases available since 2000...

..Reduced contractility of the vascular muscle wall with increasing age resulting from atherosclerosis may be the underlying mechanism...

..CONCLUSIONS: Increased carotid intima-media thickness is a strong predictor of future myocardial infarction and all measurement sites have the same ability to predict future myocardial infarction...

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..We therefore investigated the role of this polymorphism on the occurrence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and CHD in a population of healthy Dutch women...

..CONCLUSION: Systolic blood pressure was the best predictor for cardiovascular disease, whereas the role of diastolic pressure appeared to be limited...

..Coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality has steadily declined since the early 1970s in the Netherlands. However, in some Western countries the rate of decline in younger groups may be starting to plateau or even rise...

..It is premature to advise postmenopausal women with low phytoestrogen intake to change their diet towards a phytoestrogen rich diet with the sole aim to prevent cardiovascular disease...

..CONCLUSION: Our findings strengthen the notion that elevated BP at adolescence and a relative increase in BP from adolescence to adulthood unfavorably affect cardiovascular risk, as indicated by increased CIMT...

..At present it seems that the published evidence to quantitatively support the use of a CIMT measurement to help in risk stratification on top of a risk function is limited...

..Increased PWV marks an increased risk of stroke, coronary heart disease, and death within 10-12 years...

..The aim of this research was to study whether the relation between endothelial function measured by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery and cardiovascular risk factors is affected by the baseline cardiovascular risk...

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..To describe and interpret trends in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among the Dutch population from 1980 to 2000, in particular the decline in hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease during the second half of the 1990s...

..To investigate whether an important football match increases stress to such an extent that it triggers acute myocardial infarction and stroke...

..Arterial stiffness is a risk factor for stroke and myocardial infarction. We investigated whether carotid arterial stiffness is related to other localizations of manifest arterial disease...

..This may be due to different effects of vitamin K(1) (phylloquinone) and vitamin K(2) (menaquinone, MK), but few studies included both...

..Aggressive lipid lowering by administration of atorvastatin, resulting in substantial improvement of the lipid profile, did not reverse endothelial dysfunction...

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..Because the overall effect of tibolone on cardiovascular risk was unknown, the OPAL study was designed...

..We conclude that low levels of adiponectin are associated with adverse changes in morphology and function of central arteries over time independently of other cardiovascular risk factors in postmenopausal non-diabetic women...

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..Phytoestrogens have been postulated to protect against cardiovascular diseases, but few studies have focused on the effect of Western dietary phytoestrogen intake...

..We cross-sectionally investigated whether carotid stiffness is associated with previous ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) in patients with a carotid artery stenosis of at least 50%...

..Carotid artery morphology (plaque burden) and function (stiffness indexes) as predictors of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality were prospectively evaluated in elderly men...

..This cohort study investigated the relationship between reproductive factors and coronary artery calcification in elderly women and whether this relationship could be explained by metabolic disturbances...

..Hence, imaging studies support early intervention with statins in coronary heart disease patients, irrespective of lipid level...

..Additionally, these findings show that homozygosity for the 4G allele is associated with increased PAI-1 levels during the morning only...

..Yet, the risk relation has not been confirmed, and data on ischemic stroke (IS) is scarce. We therefore investigated the role of this polymorphism on occurrence of AMI, coronary heart disease (CHD) and IS...

..41, 95% confidence interval = 0.22-0.76, P for trend over tertiles = 0.004). CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest a protective effect of dietary lignan intake on blood pressure and hypertension, even at low levels...

..These markers may provide earlier indications of efficacy in trials involving fewer participants. One approach gaining interest in recent years is the measurement of atherosclerotic progression, a major underlying cause of CVD...

..Automated measurements with radiofrequency (RF) ultrasound have been suggested as an alternative. The aim of this study was to compare these methods in terms of risk-factor relations and associations with future events...

..We previously observed that patients with intrinsically low CETP levels (carriers of the TaqIB-B2 allele) may have less benefit from statin therapy, and here tested this pharmacogenetic hypothesis on long-term outcomes...

..Recently, a new model based on the SCORE system has been proposed. We compared both risk models with regard to their ability to predict cardiovascular mortality in the Netherlands...

..This risk is particularly elevated in the presence of systolic hypertension...

..The M235T polymorphism in the AGT gene has been related to an increased risk of hypertension. This finding may also suggest an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD)...

..To determine whether peri-coronary epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is associated with vascular risk factors and coronary atherosclerosis...

..04 to 2.37). After adjusting for age, the relation did not change (OR: 1.64; 95% CI: 1.07 to 2.53). We concluded that high blood pressure during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of coronary calcification later in life...

..Efforts to change modifiable risk factors early in life may retard atherosclerosis development and hence delay the onset of clinical cardiovascular disease later in life...

..This supports the presence of a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease with moderate alcohol consumption, which may be mediated in part by HDL cholesterol...

..24;7.54] per S.D. increase in CIMT and 2.50% [1.19;3.80] per S.D. increase in AIx. CONCLUSION: In middle aged and elderly men AIx is related to CV risk. However, compared with AIx, PWV and CIMT seem better markers of cardiovascular risk...