Statins are effective in reducing cardiovascular events and are safe for almost all patients. Nevertheless, intolerance to statins is frequently faced in clinical practice. This is mostly due to muscular symptoms (myalgia with or without increase of plasma creatinine kinase) and/or elevation of hepatic aminotransferases, which overall constitutes approximately two-thirds of reported adverse eve...

High dose intravenous (iv) methylprednisolone (MP) pulse therapy is a highly effective immunosuppressive treatment used in various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Active, moderate to severe Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) and neuropathy due to GO are indications for this treatment. Treatment with MP iv in GO is more effective than with oral glucocorticoids and better tolerated. In patients recei...

AIMS Tacrolimus and Cyclosporine A (CyA) are cornerstones in immunosuppressive therapy. Cyclosporine side eff ects include hypertension and hypercholesterolemia both of which may increase the risk of cardiovascular mortality, gingival hyperplasia and hirsutism are known to reduce quality of life. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate changes in cardiovascular risk profile and cosmet...

Background: Saffron (Crocus satious L.) provides a variety of promising preventive and therapeutic effects with non-considerable side effects. Objective: Based on our knowledge, this is the first study that simultaneously has reviewed the effect of saffron extract and its constituents on the factors associated with neuropsychological, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal tract diseases. ...

GH deficiency (GHD) can manifest in childhood as growth failure, delayed bone age and slow growth velocity, while in adults the picture is more complex and is characterised by negative effects on body composition, cardiovascular functions and poor quality of life. Life expectancy is reduced in adult patients with GHD as a consequence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. Most, if not al...

Over the years, we have learned through a large number of studies, initially observational ones, and then intervention ones, that, if on the one side cardiovascular risk increases with BP levels from 115/75 mm Hg on, doubling with every 20-mmHg increase in systolic BP (SBP) and 10-mmHg increase in diastolic BP (DBP), on the other, cardiovascular risk decreases significantly with BP reduction by...

Radiotherapy, an established treatment for local and regional control in neoplastic disease, may have several acute, subacute and chronic side effects. One of the main concerns about mediastinal radiotherapy is the occurrence of long-term cardiovascular complications after oncological treatment. This is an important issue--especially for thoracic neoplasms with long-term survival, such as breas...

MicroRNAs are non-coding RNA sequences that act as regulators of gene expression. They are aberrantly expressed in many pathological conditions. Cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the general population. Various knock-in and knockdown approaches have shown abnormal signature patterns of microRNAs in cardiovascular conditions like cardiac hypertrop...

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Elevated cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia) and abnormal lipid profiles (dyslipidemia) are important risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease. This article discusses the role of cholesterol in the body and the relationship between different cholesterol fractions and the risk of cardiovascular disease. The guidelin...

The metabolic syndrome can be found in approximately one third of patients who do not have diabetes but have primary hypertension. Its presence has been associated with a wide range of traditional and nontraditional cardiovascular risk factors and early signs of cardiovascular and renal damage. Moreover, it was emphasized recently that the metabolic syndrome predicts an increased probability of...