Viola Vaccarino

..86 to 1.67). In conclusion, this study indicates that high Scr is associated with almost a threefold risk of CHD among middle-aged people with anemia, whereas no increased risk is found in people with high Scr in the absence of anemia...

..The purpose of this study was to examine prospectively whether inflammation explains the relationship between depression and cardiovascular disease (CVD)...

..The relationship between depression and the metabolic syndrome is unclear, and whether metabolic syndrome explains the association between depression and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is unknown...

..Although increased attention has been paid to sex and racial differences in the management of myocardial infarction, it is unknown whether these differences have narrowed over time...

..This study sought to examine the relationship between inflammation and coronary microvascular function in asymptomatic individuals using positron emission tomography (PET) and assessment of coronary flow reserve (CFR)...

..Previous studies have shown that women younger than 55 years have higher hospital mortality rates after acute myocardial infarction (MI) than age-matched men. We examined whether such mortality differences have decreased in recent years...

..We sought to examine whether MPO and other markers of inflammation are associated with MDD and whether the association is confounded by genetic or other shared familial factors...

..Furthermore, little is known about whether depression and HRV share common genetic pathways...

..We sought to examine the relationship between MDD and coronary flow reserve (CFR), the ratio of maximum flow during stress to flow at rest measured in milliliters per minute per gram of tissue...

..Recent data suggested that MDD and inflammation share common genes...

..We sought to investigate whether oxidative stress would be higher in African Americans compared to whites independently of traditional risk factor burden...

..Depressive symptoms predict adverse post-MI outcomes and are more prevalent among women than men. We examined whether depressive symptoms contribute to women's worse outcomes after MI...

..Our objective was to evaluate the prognostic importance of transient, new, or persistent depression on outcomes at 6 months after MI...

..The aims of this study were to determine the relative influence of genetic and environmental contributions to inflammatory biomarkers, and to what extent correlations among these markers are due to genetic or environmental factors...

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..These results suggest that a common neurobiological dysfunction links depression and autonomic dysregulation...

..One possible mechanism of higher cardiovascular mortality associated with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) may be through abnormal modulation in autonomic tone...

..The cardioprotective property of the Mediterranean diet has been attributed to its antioxidant capacity, but direct investigation of this mechanism has been limited...

..When marital status was examined as a main predictive variable, the analyses yielded similar results (unadjusted RR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.58-0.86; RR adjusted for the same covariates, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.60-1.02)...

..Additionally, low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] is associated with endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness. However, little is known about the association between serum 25(OH)D level and myocardial blood flow...

..Inflammation and oxidative stress may be the mechanisms through which smoking affects the microvasculature...

..To compare the utility of metabolic syndrome (MetS) to random plasma glucose (RPG) in identifying people with diabetes or prediabetes...

..A previous study of participants with prediabetes found that hemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)) levels differed between black and white participants with no differences in glucose concentration...

..With positive results from diabetes prevention studies, there is interest in convenient ways to incorporate screening for glucose intolerance into routine care and to limit the need for fasting diagnostic tests...

..Because depression after AMI has been associated with adverse outcomes, younger women, a high-risk group compared with men, may particularly benefit from aggressive screening and treatment of post-AMI depression...

..Although previous studies have shown functional improvements in patients who undergo coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, data are conflicting on whether the gains achieved by women are similar to or less than those achieved by men...

..The link between leptin and depression could be mediated by obesity, which is more common in depression and increases leptin production...

..Heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of autonomic function, has been associated with cognitive function, but studies are conflicting. Previous studies have also not controlled for familial and genetic influences...

..Depression is an established independent prognostic factor for mortality, readmission, and cardiac events after CABG surgery. However, limited data exist on whether depression influences functional outcomes after CABG...

..To estimate the heritability of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), a surrogate marker for atherosclerosis, independent of traditional coronary risk factors...

..Diabetes is a stronger risk factor for coronary heart disease in women than in men. Whether diabetes also poses greater risks to women after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has not been examined...

..Younger but not older women hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction have higher in-hospital mortality rates than men. We hypothesized that younger women also have higher in-hospital mortality rates after CABG...

..In conclusion, reduced HRV correlates significantly with increased CRP plasma levels and this correlation is due, in large part, to common genetic influences. A polymorphism in the CRP gene contributes to both CRP levels and HRV...

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..We sought to identify baseline clinical, angiographic, and hemodynamic variables associated with optimal bare-metal stent (BMS) deployment, allowing selection of patients for treatment with BMS...

..This finding supports a role for oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of premature atherosclerosis, and its measurement may help in the early identification of asymptomatic subjects at risk of atherosclerotic disease...

..We determined whether perceived social support predicted change in health-related quality of life, operationalized as change in mental health and physical functioning, 6 months after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)...

..We hypothesized that those variants whose mechanism of risk is currently unknown, confer risk via pathways mediating arterial wave reflections which is an increasingly recognized risk factor for cardiovascular disease...

..Evidence links dietary sodium to hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD), but investigation of its influence on cardiovascular function is limited...

..In conclusion, in older adults with HF, women had significantly better survival than men irrespective of race, suggesting that gender-based survival differences may be more important than race-based differences...

..We explored the relationship of genetic variants of the serotonin transporter gene SLC6A4, a key regulator of the serotonergic neurotransmission, with both depressive symptoms and plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels...

..To determine the proportion of the American population who would merit metformin treatment, according to recent American Diabetes Association (ADA) consensus panel recommendations to prevent or delay the development of diabetes...

..Whether a combined genetic risk score (GRS) is associated with prevalent and incident MI in high-risk subjects remains to be established...

..We explored race and gender differences in underestimation of weight using body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC), after adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors...

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..Smoking cessation after myocardial infarction (MI) is an important goal for secondary prevention of mortality. Whether new initiatives to promote cessation improve patients' quit rates after MI is unknown...

..This study sought to evaluate the long-term prognostic value of the number and sites of calcified coronary lesions and to compare the accuracy of number of calcified lesions with the extent of total calcium score...

..59 to 0.98). Thus, the apparent protective effect of combination menopausal hormone therapy with E+P on CAD is due to differences in other patient characteristics. In contrast, unopposed E therapy may have a protective effect on CAD...

..The aim of our study was to examine the association of serum phosphorus level with carotid atherosclerosis in the general population...

..It is unknown to what extent the association between the Mediterranean diet and inflammation is due to genetic or other familial factors...

..It is unknown, however, whether early menopause predicts post-myocardial infarction (MI) angina. We examined whether younger AAM increases risk of post-MI angina...

..Special attention should be paid to the physical function of patients with DM after CABG, and any barriers to functional recovery in this group should be promptly identified and addressed...

..To illuminate potential barriers to participation, we examined the prevalence of, and patient-related factors associated with, CR participation within 1 and 6 months after an AMI...

..In this group, low-grade systemic inflammation could represent a mechanism linking depression to cardiovascular risk...

..However, few studies have examined this association in samples including a significant number of African Americans, or examined whether the association differs by race and sex...

..The Jackson Heart Study cohort provides an opportunity to test the hypothesis that the inverse association between adiponectin and LVM may be modified by risk factors common among blacks...

..Because coronary heart disease is increasingly seen as an inflammatory process, it might be reasonable to hypothesize that physical activity reduces risk of coronary heart disease by reducing or preventing inflammation...

..Loss of renal function is accompanied by a progressive increase in markers of inflammation; it is unknown whether they share common genetic pathways...

..In conclusion, there are positive associations between markers of inflammation and BP variability in healthy, normotensive adults, suggesting that inflammation may be 1 of the factors that promotes increased BP variability...

..Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a predictor of morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs), and African American (AA) patients have been reported to have worse outcomes after PCI...

..No differences were found in major in-hospital complications by gender...

..The causes of increased CRP, however, are not completely understood. Studies suggest that oxidative stress may have pro-inflammatory effects, but data on the relationship between oxidative stress and CRP in healthy persons is sparse...

..Although depression is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, there is virtually no information on whether it also increases the risk in young populations...

..To estimate the heritability of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) measured with positron emission tomography (PET)...

..Studies on the incidence and predictors of heart failure (HF) are often restricted to elderly persons or identify only inpatient cases...

..Because these data are cross-sectional, causal inference is limited. Nonetheless, the associations between these compounds and lipids raise concerns, given their common presence in the general population...

..This study was designed to examine whether female gender is associated with poorer recovery after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery...

..Assessing control may help clinicians predict post-CABG physical functioning and may shape intervention efforts...

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..No studies have examined neural correlates of fear conditioning and extinction in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)...

..Prior studies define worsening renal function using various creatinine elevations, but the relative value of definitions is unknown...

..This might, in part, reflect a poorer course of heart failure among African Americans...

..66), suggesting an equivalent ability to risk stratify by gender. In conclusion, this meta- and pooled analysis revealed that CAC screening is equally accurate in stratifying risk in women and men...

..049 for the interaction among treatment, gender, and follow-up for the quality of life domain). Although CABG may be superior to PCI in men, in women, at 1 year after intervention, both procedures appear equally effective...

..To compare diabetes prevalence among Asian Americans by World Health Organization and U.S. BMI classifications...

..The combined effect of CKD and anemia on stroke risk, however, has not been investigated thoroughly. We analyzed data from a middle-aged, community-based cohort to determine if CKD and anemia interacted to affect stroke risk...

..Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have a greater clustering of cardiac risk factors. However, the link between PCOS and cardiovascular (CV) disease is incompletely described...

..The purpose of the present study was to assess hippocampal and prefrontal functioning during performance of a verbal declarative memory task in subjects with midlife major depression...

..The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of isotretinoin on brain functioning in acne patients...

..The majority of studies support a positive association between PP and inflammatory markers. However, it remains unclear whether the association is truly causal and whether it has relevance in terms of predicting cardiovascular diseases...

..713 mm versus 0.687 mm, p=0.008). In conclusion, adult-onset asthma but not child-onset asthma is associated with increased carotid atherosclerosis among women but not among men...

..Our results suggest that increases in pulse pressure are associated with elevated C-reactive protein levels among apparently healthy US adults, independent of systolic and diastolic blood pressure...

..Baseline HDL cholesterol levels <33 mg/dl for men and <38 mg/dl were associated with higher one-year mortality after PCI...

..The purpose of this study was to measure both hippocampal structure and function in women with and without early childhood sexual abuse and the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)...

..No significant association was found in women with child-onset asthma or in men. In conclusion, adult-onset asthma may be a significant risk factor for CHD and stroke in women, but not men...

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..Efforts toward the prevention, early identification and treatment of PTSD and the identification of factors that mediate its adverse effects could reduce morbidity and mortality from CVD. ..

This is an application for a Mid-Career Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24) for Viola Vaccarino, MD, PhD. The overall objective is to foster Dr...

..Besides extending our knowledge of the mechanisms linking depression to CVD risk, the findings of this project will help in the design of more effective approaches to the primary prevention of CVD. ..

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