View clinical trials related to Atherosclerosis.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to study the effects of polyarginine treated vein grafts on graft patency for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery.
Chemerin is a novel adipokine that might provide a link between chronic inflammation and obesity. Pulse wave velocity(PWV) is a useful method for examining arterial stiffness, meaning early-stage atherosclerosis. Therefore, in the present study, the investigators examined the relationship between circulating chemerin and arterial stiffness measured using PWV in obese persons.
About 13 million people in the United States have coronary artery disease (CAD). It is the leading cause of death in both men and women. Coronary artery disease (CAD) occurs when the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle (the coronary arteries) become hardened and narrowed. The arteries harden and narrow due to buildup of fatty and calcified material called plaque on their inner walls. The buildup of plaque is also called atherosclerosis. This is a process which starts early in life, but can be influenced by multiple factors. Several factors increase the risk of developing atherosclerosis. They include high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol and being related to someone who had a heart attack or a stroke. The more risk factors you have, the greater the chance that you have severe atherosclerosis. Some of the risk factors cannot be modified, like age and family history of early heart disease. The influenceable factors include high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, high blood sugar, cigarette smoking, overweight or obesity, and lack of physical activity. Nevertheless, there are patients without any above mentioned risk factors who develop atherosclerosis. In addition to that, there are also patients with several risk factors who do not develop severe coronary artery disease. According to research studies high blood levels of some substances in the blood (biochemical markers) as well as some genes in the DNA of our cells may be associated with an increased risk of developing CAD and faster progression of the disease. The purpose of this study is to find a correlation between certain blood markers and growth of the plaques, regardless of the presence of the classic risk factors for atherosclerosis. If we prove our hypothesis we will be one step closer to predicting the extent of atherosclerosis by performing certain blood tests.
The investigators will evaluate 100 regular red wine consumer men and 100 abstainers men from 50 years-old to 70 years-old by coronary risk prevalence, mood status, anthropometric measures, daily caloric ingest, lipid profile, carotid intimal media thickness, brachial flow mediate dilatation, coronary tomographic angiography and leucocyte telomere length. The sample size has been calculated expecting that regular red wine ingestion would lead to a five year old younger vascular ageing indexes measured by carotid intimal media thickness, coronary artery calcium scores and leucocyte telomere length longer than those abstainers subjects at same age. The investigators hypothesized that regular wine consumers present less coronary lesion and coronary calcium score on coronary tomographic angiography, lower carotid intimal media thickness and higher mean telomere length due the benefice of wine.
In individuals with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) it has been obtained an outstanding improvement in the management of hyperglycemia, but it has not been achieved a similar result in the reduction of the atherosclerotic syndrome. The comprehension of the mechanisms that link over nutrition to inflammation and innate immune response can be important to understand the relationship between insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus and endothelial dysfunction. It will be investigated: 1) the role of Toll Like Receptors (TLR)s in the pathophysiology of T2D and associated atherosclerosis; 2) the role of aspirin and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase inhibitor/s in the production of TxA2 and F2-isoprostanes in T2D patients; 3)new biomarkers associated to Diabetes and atherosclerosis including markers of endothelial dysfunction and cytokines. It will be analyzed in isolated platelets from normal controls and/or diabetic patients the production of TxA2, isoprostanes and pro-inflammatory/thrombotic cytokines using aspirin and NADPHoxidase inhibitors.
The hypothesis is that switching calcium based phosphate binders to sevelamer carbonate will be associated with less inflammation including less atherosclerotic plaque inflammation (inflammation of the vessel walls).
The purpose of this study is to determine whether non-invasive atherosclerotic measurements (baPWV, IMT, FMD, CACS, ABI) are valuable predictors for cardiovascular events in elderly. At inception, routine physical examination and non-invasive atherosclerotic measurements will conducted on all participants. Then they will be followed prospectively for at least 2 years. All cardiovascular and other health events will be recorded.
South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, and Sri Lankan) individuals have high rates of cardiovascular disease that is not explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Though South Asians represent over one-quarter of the world's population, there are no longitudinal studies in this high-risk ethnic group. The investigators aim to establish a longitudinal study of South Asians at three United States centers to identify risk factors linked to subclinical atherosclerosis and incident cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study is to understand the causes of heart disease and stroke in South Asians and compare these causes to those in other United States ethnic groups.
Hypothesis: SLE and RA increase risk of myocardial infarction (MI, heart attack). Immune reactants in the circulation of SLE patients downregulate cholesterol efflux proteins 27-hydroxylase and ABCA1 and upregulate scavenger receptor CD36, thus encouraging cholesterol accumulation. Adenosine A2A receptor agonist or statin treatment of cells exposed to SLE plasma (or immune complexes or cytokine-enriched plasma fractions from SLE patients) may ameliorate inflammatory properties of their plasma, lessening its atherogenic potency. Rationale: SLE and RA plasma contain components not present in significant levels in normal plasma that could, individually or acting together, affect 27-hydroxylase, ABCA1 and CD36 expression. Candidate components include autoantibodies, immune complexes, and various cytokines. Statins reduce major cardiovascular events and death. Modulation of adenosine signaling participates in regulation of 27-hydroxylase and ABCA1. As a potential preventative and therapeutic approach to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, the investigators evaluate the effect of A2A receptor agonists and statins on atherogenic parameters in SLE and RA plasma. Experimental Plan: Quantitate 27-hydroxylase and several other proteins involved in cellular cholesterol uptake and excretion in THP-1 monocytes/macrophages and HAEC after exposure to plasma and plasma components from SLE patients (and controls) ± lipid loading with acetylated LDL with/without addition of A2AR agonist, statin, or both. Determine relative impact of immune complexes and cytokines on expression of proteins involved in cholesterol flux. Determine levels of proteins involved in cellular cholesterol influx/efflux in peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from RA, SLE and psoriatic arthritis patients and normal controls at baseline, then following incubation in culture media alone or with statin, adenosine A2A agonist or both statin + A2AR agonist.
Coronary artery disease (CAD), the most common type of heart disease, is caused by hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis that is an inflammatory process in which immune mechanisms interact with metabolic risk factors to initiate, propagate, and activate lesions in the arterial trees. Epidemiological studies have found that increased cardiovascular risks are associated with increased levels of inflammatory cytokines (eg, interleukin-6 [IL-6] and tumor necrosis factor-alpha[TNF-alpha]) or their hepatic product, C-reactive protein (CRP). Higher expression of interleukin-Ibeta(IL-1beta),IL-6, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), and TNF-alpha were observed in epicardial adipose tissues in patients with CAD. These findings suggested that the pericoronary tissues could be a source of inflammatory mediators or act as paracrine that lead to vascular inflammation on CAD pathogenesis. However, adiponectin, a kind of adipocytokine, produced and secreted exclusively by adipose tissue, has been reported to have a variety of anti-inflammatory functions against atherosclerosis, resulting in risk reduction for incidence of CAD events. It remains unclear whether adiponectin and inflammatory mediators in mediastinal adipose tissue contribute to CAD. We therefore aim to analyze the expression of adiponectin and inflammatory mediators in mediastinal adipose tissue between patients with CAD and with valve diseases, and to correlate these parameters with clinical atherosclerotic risks, medications (statins or antiplatelet), and blood sugar.