OBJECTIVES This study was performed to evaluate the frequency and risk factors associated with new aortal lesions induced by surgical manipulation and their correlation with postoperative stroke. BACKGROUND Little is known about the causative mechanism of intraoperative atheroembolism after cardiac surgery. METHODS Epiaortic echocardiography was performed before cannulation and after decann...

BACKGROUND No-reflow associated with direct angioplasty (PCI) of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) is associated with unfavorable results. METHODS AND RESULTS We used a new thrombectomy device to treat 51 lesions in 48 consecutive ACS patients (40 male and 8 female; mean age 63 years) and conducted a microscopic analysis of aspirates and blood samples retrieved from the culprit cor...

PTEN is a dual-specificity phosphatase that has been shown to inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation and migration, two key events in the ethiopathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Adenovirus-mediated PTEN overexpression inhibited the formation of vascular obstructive lesions induced by mechanical injury of the vessel wall. In this study, we investigated whether PTEN protects again...

BACKGROUND The cardiovascular event rate in Japanese populations is strikingly lower than that in Caucasian populations and it has been postulated that this difference might be because of variations in atherosclerosis progression in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the rate of angiographically assessed progression and its response to statins has not been well described in J...

In this study cockerels were fed varying diets supplemented with lard, vegetable oil, and cholesterol. The degree of atherosclerosis was compared in serial autopsies and only the cholesterol-fed group showed a significant difference. During a period of two years there was no apparent change in the degree of atheroma when the diet was supplemented with cottonseed oil or lard. Reversibil-ity of t...

In the present study, we compared the effects of nibbling and gorging on postprandial lipaemia and lipoproteins, hepatic lipid uptake and atheroma deposition. New Zealand White rabbits were fed on a low-fat (LF) control diet or a peanut oil- (10 g/d) and cholesterol- (0.5 g/d) enriched (HF) diet with the fat and cholesterol components given either by nibbling (HF-N) or gorging (HF-G). After 4 a...

OBJECTIVES The goal of this study was to examine the association between paraoxonase-1 (PON1) activity and concentration and the severity and extent of coronary artery disease (CAD). BACKGROUND Paraoxonase-1, a high-density lipoprotein-associated enzyme, is proposed to have an antiatherogenic effect by protecting low-density lipoproteins against oxidation. METHODS We studied PON1 activity a...

Cholesteatoma is an epidermoid cyst, which is most frequently found in the middle ear. The matrix of cholesteatoma is histologically similar to the matrix of the epidermoid cyst of the skin (atheroma); their epithelium is characterized by hyperproliferation. The c-MYC protooncogene located on chromosome 8q24 encodes a transcription factor involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and dif...