BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE It has been postulated that physiological changes in the cardiovascular system, lipids, and glucose metabolism during pregnancy may increase subsequent risk of cardiovascular disease. Examination of the association between parity and risk factors for atherosclerosis may contribute information regarding possible mechanisms. METHODS The relationship of parity with cardiov...

BACKGROUND The Ryanodine receptor 3 gene (RYR3) encodes an intracellular calcium channel that mediates the efflux of Ca2+ from intracellular stores. Two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the RYR3 gene have been shown to associate with stroke (rs877087) and carotid intima-media thickness (rs2229116) in two independent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in Caucasian. We investigated t...

In this study we examined the potential role of atherosclerosis in the main arteries supplying blood to the carotid body in the organ's morphological degradation with age. We addressed this issue by comparing the ultrastructural picture of carotid bodies and of fragments of the carotid artery bifurcation in two age-extreme groups of rats: young - 3 months old and senescent - 24 months old. Tiss...

Carotid artery stenosis accounts for approximately 10% of ischemic strokes. Improved methods of diagnosis of cerebrovascular atherosclerosis would result in significant improvement in quality of life and major savings in health care costs. Imaging plays a critical role evaluating patients suspected of acute stroke. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI's) significant advantages over DUS in carotids i...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Both carotid atherosclerosis and cerebral arteriolosclerosis are associated with stroke. However, the relationship between carotid atherosclerosis and cerebral arteriolosclerosis is unknown. We examined the association between carotid artery stiffness, a marker of early atherosclerosis, and retinal arteriolar narrowing, a marker of arteriolosclerosis, in healthy middle-ag...

OBJECTIVE To examine the prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) compared with healthy controls, and to identify clinical and biologic markers for atherosclerotic disease in this patient population. METHODS Subclinical atherosclerosis was defined as the average of intima-media thickness (IMT) measures in the common carotid artery, bifurcation, and ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of extracranial carotid artery atherosclerosis and its relation to principal cardiovascular risk factors at different ages in a sample of the general population. METHODS B-mode ultrasonography was used to investigate the carotid district in 457 subjects (231 men and 226 women; mean age, 55.4 +/- 18.7 years; range, 18 to...

BACKGROUND Arterial compliance and endothelium-dependent vasodilation are two characteristics of the vessel wall. In the Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors (PIVUS) study, we studied the relationships between arterial compliance and endothelium-dependent vasodilation versus atherosclerosis as measured with two imaging modalities. METHODS In the population-based PIV...

Vessel wall imaging can depict the morphologies of atherosclerotic plaques, arterial walls, and surrounding structures in the intracranial and cervical carotid arteries beyond the simple luminal changes that can be observed with traditional luminal evaluation. Differentiating vulnerable from stable plaques and characterizing atherosclerotic plaques are vital parts of the early diagnosis, preven...

AIMS To investigate the influence of apolipoprotein E (APOE) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphisms on carotid artery atherosclerosis in alcoholism. METHODS Polymorphism of both genes was identified by DNA analysis in 130 male alcohol-dependent patients. Intima-media thickness (IMT) was measured ultrasonographically. RESULTS Multivariate regression analysis showed that o...