Ninety-four or 7% of 1,346 healthy middle-aged Chinese men who underwent a graded treadmill test of maximal exercise showed post-exercise ST-segment depression. Stepwise linear discriminant function analysis showed that the major factors associated with this response were systolic blood pressures at maximal exercise, age, and certain resting ECG abnormalities, and to a lesser extent, systolic a...

The chemical composition of St. John's wort has been well-studied. Documented pharmacological activities, including antidepressant, antiviral, and antibacterial effects, provide supporting evidence for several of the traditional uses stated for St John's wort. Many pharmacological activities appear to be attributable to hypericin and to the flavonoid constituents; hypericin is also reported to ...

The diagnostic accuracy of 14-lead exercise electrocardiography was evaluated in 112 women who had no history of myocardial infarction and underwent coronary angiography. The sensitivity of ST-segment displacement of 0.1 mV or more in any of 14 ECG leads was 0.79 for coronary artery stenosis of at least 70%; the specificity was 0.66. Results were similar using bipolar ECG leads CC5 and CM5 or 1...

BACKGROUND Neurohormones may influence vascular tone both during and after exercise. Neuropeptide Y (NPY), which is costored and released with norepinephrine (NE) during sympathetic activity, is a potent vasoconstrictor with a relatively long half-life. We therefore examined its possible association with the ischemic response to exercise in patients with coronary artery disease. METHODS AND R...

BACKGROUND Identification of coronary ischemia may enable targeted diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for acute heart failure. We determined the risk of 30-day mortality associated with ischemic ECG abnormalities in patients with acute heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS Among 8772 patients (53.4% women, median 78 years [Q1, Q3: 68,84]) presenting with acute heart failure to 86 hospital eme...

BACKGROUND The effectiveness of cardiovascular screening in minimising the risk of athletic field deaths in master athletes is not known. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the prevalence and clinical significance of ST segment depression during a stress test in asymptomatic apparently healthy elderly athletes. METHODS A total of 113 male subjects aged over 60 were studied (79 trained and 34 sedentary);...

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by intermittent hypoxia during sleep. We tested the hypothesis that nocturnal myocardial ischemia is detectable by ST segment depression and elevation of high sensitive troponin T (hsTrop T) and B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in patients with OSA and coexisting coronary artery disease (CAD). Twenty-one patients with OSA and CAD and 20 patie...

Acute cardiac rejection, syndrome X, and arterial hypertension can induce small vessel damage and, therefore, restriction of coronary reserve in the presence of normal epicardial coronary arteries. A characteristic response pattern to dipyridamole (DIP) infusion has been previously described in syndrome X and arterial hypertension: ST segment depression without any measurable systolic dysfuncti...

We addressed the hypothesis that platelets are not activated in association with effort-induced myocardial ischemia in stable coronary disease. Seventy-two patients undergoing a diagnostic bicycle exercise test were stratified according to the development of chest pain (yes/no, 33/39) and of exercise-induced ST-segment depression of at least 200 microV in the electrocardiogram (yes/no, 12/60). ...