View clinical trials related to Cardiovascular Diseases.
Filter by:Rosuvastatin belongs to a class of medications commonly called "statins" which are medications given for high low density lipoprotein (LDL) 'bad' cholesterol to prevent atherosclerosis (hardening of blood vessels) and lower risk of heart attacks and other circulation problems. Recent studies in the general non-HIV infected population have shown that the beneficial effect of statins in preventing circulation problems is larger than would be expected from lowering of LDL-cholesterol alone. It has been suggested that the additional beneficial effect of statins may be due to the anti-inflammatory effect of statins. The risk of heart attacks and other circulation problems may be high in HIV infected individuals. This may be due to the inflammatory stress effects of HIV. The main purpose of the study is to see if rosuvastatin will have a beneficial effect on the circulatory system in HIV infected individuals even in those who do not have high LDL cholesterol levels. Therefore, in HIV-infected individuals with normal or low LDL cholesterol levels but with evidence of low HDL cholesterol levels which may be a sign of low grade inflammation, the study will look at whether 3 months of rosuvastatin will lead to improvement in brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD), a marker of early atherosclerosis (hardening of the blood vessels).
Hypothesis: The investigators hypothesize that genetic variants will alter gene expression in response to ischemia during cardiopulmonary bypass. To test this, the investigators will be taking small pieces of heart tissue from patients undergoing heart surgery before and after this period of ischemia. This will be compared to blood gene expression in blood cells and analyzed with the patients' genetic profile. This might allow us to assess the amount of inflammation that occurs when patients are on the heart-lung machine as well as examine the effects genes have on this critical time period.
This research focuses on communication practices between patients and health care professionals, like nurses, doctors, or physician assistants. The goal is to help improve communication about heart health issues. This pilot (or Beta) study is designed to test our ability to recruit an appropriate sample of participants, and determine our ability to deliver and evaluate the effects of a web-based intervention. The investigators hypothesize that exposure to the intervention will result in measurable changes in self-reported knowledge, attitudes and behavior regarding communication between patients and health care professionals. Participants in this research study are being recruited from the people who currently receive care at the Richmond Family Health Center of the Oregon Health & Science University. People who participate in this study will be between 55 and 70 years old, speak English as their preferred language, and have one of several possible diagnoses related to heart health. These could include, for example, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, or obesity. Additionally, the investigators are recruiting a small number of health care professionals from the Richmond Family Health Center. Their participation will be similar to but separate from the participation of patients. All participants will take two web-based surveys. Some participants will use a web-based tool that hopes to help improve communication between health care professionals and patients. The surveys contain questions that explore the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of participants related to heart health and communication between health care professionals and patients. Data analysis will focus upon identifying any changes that occurred in knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors with respect to health communication after using the web-based tool, as well as learning about what influences the quality and nature of communication between health care professionals and the patients they serve.
This study is funded by the American Heart Association. The goal of this research is to prevent early cardiovascular damage before symptoms develop for persons with HIV infection. Evidence suggests that taking low doses of blood pressure and cholesterol medication reduces risk for heart disease in persons who are at increased risk (such as the case with HIV infection). Participants who are taking HIV treatment with an 'undetectable' viral load, and who do NOT need treatment for high blood pressure or cholesterol may be eligible to enroll. Participants will take a low dose cholesterol medication (or placebo) and a low dose of a blood pressure medication (or a placebo), and will be seen at 3 study visits over 4 months.
The final purpose of this study is to determine whether bronchodilation and cigarette smoking in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients interact, resulting in an increase of cardiovascular disease. The aim of this part of the study is to demonstrate the basic mechanism: Does increased respiratory function after administration of a bronchodilator in patients with COPD lead to elevated pulmonary retention of the harmful compounds in inhaled cigarette smoke and to short-term biological effects associated with cardiovascular disease?
The investigators' aim is to implement an intervention to increase aspirin prophylaxis use among patients that is patient initiated, optimizes use of physician and staff time, appropriately compensates staff, provides clinicians with tools necessary for managing aspiring prophylaxis, and ensures continuous management.
The main objective is to elucidate the acute effects of an oral intake of either saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) whole genome expression of obese and type 2 diabetic obese subjects.
The investigators hypothesize that the degree to which older generally healthy but sedentary men and women improve a number of cardiovascular (CV) disease risk factors with 6 months of highly-standardized endurance exercise training will be a function of common genetic variations in candidate genes.
Chronic stress has been proposed to be involved the development of western life-style diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). At the same time chronic stress is also believed to cause psychiatric disease such as melancholic depression (MD)and anxiety disorders. Accordingly, humans born with low birth weight (LBW) (ei. less than 5,0 LB) display an increased risk for T2DM and MD. Studies suggest stress and adrenal stress hormones (glucocorticoids) (GCC) might be involved in the development of both of these conditions. Recent studies of animals born LBW suggest, that SSRI-compounds, usually employed in the treatment of MD-related diseases, reduces stress-responses and levels of stress hormones such adrenal steroids and at the same time has a positive influence on glucose metabolism. In present study, the investigators aim to measure levels of GCC and stress and assess glucose metabolism in healthy young men (20-35 years) born LBW (40 subjects). The volume and structure of a certain brain area (ie. hippocampus) involved in regulation of adrenal GCC and known to be malfunctioning in chronically stressed individuals will be assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Further metabolic examination will be accompanied by MRI spectroscopy of liver and muscle fat content as well as total fat content (Dexa-scanning) and contents of fat in the abdomen (by MRI) . Psychiatric well-ness and symptoms will be characterized by well-established questionnaires such as MDI and SCL-92 and responses as regards blood pressure, heart rate and changes in basal plasma concentrations of GCC and Epinephrine will be assessed while performing a Stroop Stress Test. Finally, a 24 hour blood pressure profile test will be included. After this extensive examination program, subjects will be randomized to 3-4 months of treatment with either Escitalopram (an SSRI-compound) or Placebo. Subsequently, at the end of the treatment, the whole examination program will be repeated to detect potential beneficial changes. A group of young normal birth weight men (20 subjects) will serve as a healthy baseline group for comparison and will not be exposed to any medical treatment. This trial will add understanding to the mechanism underlying the development of type 2 diabetes and depression in LBW. Additionally, present trial might be capable of proposing a novel treatment strategy to prevent the development of these diseases in LBW man.
High blood pressure is the major risk factor for Cardiovascular disease (CVD). The prevalence of hypertension in Brazil was established in population-based studies conducted in different cities and States, varying from 22.3 to 44% of adults. The benefit of drug treatment of hypertension to prevent major cardiovascular events was consistently demonstrated in a large series of clinical trials controlled by placebo. Diuretics are at least as efficacious as other blood pressure-lowering drugs, are well tolerated, have longer duration of action and the advantage of very low cost to be used in a population intervention. Chlorthalidone is the more efficacious agent. Its main limitation is to induce hypokalemia in a proportion of patients, an adverse effect that can be antagonized by a potassium-sparing diuretic, as amiloride. A study comparing diuretic with an ARB agent is therefore recommendable in Brazil, in order to support the decisions of the Health Secretary in regard to blood pressure agents supply for the Brazilian population. Such a study was demanded and funded by the Health and Technology Ministries in Brazil.