INTRODUCTION Sepsis and other infections are associated with late cardiovascular events. Although persistent inflammation is implicated, a causal relationship has not been established. We tested whether sepsis causes vascular inflammation and accelerates atherosclerosis. METHODS We performed prospective, randomized animal studies at a university research laboratory involving adult male ApoE-d...

CONTEXT Prior intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) trials have demonstrated slowing or halting of atherosclerosis progression with statin therapy but have not shown convincing evidence of regression using percent atheroma volume (PAV), the most rigorous IVUS measure of disease progression and regression. OBJECTIVE To assess whether very intensive statin therapy could regress coronary atheroscleros...

  Background and Objective: Ischemic heart disease (IHD) following atherosclerosis is the most common cause of cardiac deaths world wide. We aimed to investigate the pathologic features of atherosclerosis in non cardiac death cases to have an estimate of atherosclerosis prevalence in Mashad (North east of Iran). Patients and Methods : This descriptive (cross sectional) study was done, during ...

BACKGROUND Lipid lowering may reduce acute coronary events in patients in part by reducing vascular inflammation. Oxidative stress induces endothelial cell (EC) expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and reduces levels of atheroprotective NO, leading to monocyte recruitment and macrophage accumulation. This study tested the hypoth...

Supplemental marine omega-3 eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) has an anti-atherosclerotic effect. Clinical research on EPA supplied by the regular diet and atherosclerosis is scarce. In the framework of the PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED) trial, we conducted a cross-sectional study in 161 older individuals at high vascular risk grouped into different stages of carotid atherosclerosis sev...

Interruption of inflammatory pathways may provide a novel approach to the therapy of atherosclerosis. Recently, we and others have implicated the immune mediator dyad CD40/CD40L (CD40 ligand), which is expressed on endothelial and smooth muscle cells, macrophages, and T lymphocytes within human atherosclerotic lesions, in aspects of atherogenesis and the acute coronary syndromes, including regu...

BACKGROUND Because many acute cerebral ischemic events are caused by rupture of vulnerable carotid atheroma and subsequent thrombosis, the present study used both idealized and patient-specific carotid atheromatous plaque models to evaluate the effect of structural determinants on stress distributions within plaque. METHODS AND RESULTS Using a finite element method, structural analysis was pe...

Inflammation plays a central pathogenic role in the initiation and progression of coronary atheroma and its clinical consequences. Cytokines are the mediators of cellular inflammation and promote local inflammation in the arterial wall, which may lead to vascular smooth muscle apoptosis, degradation of the fibrin cap and plaque rupture. Platelet adhesion and thrombus formation then occur, resul...

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis are major health dilemmas. Osteoporotic patients frequently display vascular calcification that consequently increases the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. PURPOSE This study aimed to investigate the relation of osteoporosis, vascular calcification (atheroma, intima-media thickness (IMT)) and elongated styloid process (ES...

Sound data support the concept that in atherosclerosis, inflammation and dyslipidemia intersect each other and that irrespective of the initiator, both participate from the early stages to the ultimate fate of the atheromatous plaque. The two partakers manoeuvre a vicious circle in atheroma formation: dyslipidaemia triggers an inflammatory process and inflammation elicits dyslipidaemia. Indepen...