BACKGROUND Plasma concentrations of natriuretic peptides are often elevated in chronic hemodialysis patients and difficult to interpret due to accumulation, high incidence of cardiac disease and changes in volume status. Mid-regional pro-ANP is a newly developed assay whereas BNP and its fragment NT-pro-BNP are available for a longer time. In this cross-sectional study, we compared the plasma c...

BACKGROUND This study was undertaken to identify factors correlating with plasma levels of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and its N-terminal portion (NTpro BNP) in the acute phase of Kawasaki disease (KD). METHODS This study included 91 patients with KD treated at a hospital affiliated to Hamamatsu University School of Medicine between October 2003 and June 2011. We quantified BNP and NT-pr...

Serum N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) testing is recommended in the patients with heart failure (HF). We hypothesized that NT-pro-BNP, in combination with other clinical factors in terms of a novel NT-pro BNP-based score, may provide even better predictive power for in-hospital mortality among patients with HF. A retrospective study enrolled adult patients with hospitaliz...

BACKGROUND Natriuretic peptides are released by the heart in response to wall stress. OBJECTIVE The NT-Pro-BNP concentrations in slow coronary flow (SCF) patients were assessed before and after the exercise test and compared with the values of healthy controls. METHODS The study population was 34 patients with SCF [22 males (64.7%), aged 51.0 ± 6.2 years], and 34 normal subjects with normal...

AIMS No studies have yet been conducted concerning plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (Nt-pro-BNP) levels after Myocardial Infarction (MI) and their relationship with short-term outcomes in diabetic patients. METHODS AND RESULTS Five hundred and sixty patients hospitalized for MI from the RICO survey, including 199 diabetic and 361 non-diabetic subjects, were included in the stud...

AIMS It has been suggested that troponins and natriuretic peptides can be falsely elevated in subjects with impaired kidney function because of decreased renal clearance. The value of these biomarkers in subjects with impaired kidney function has therefore been debated. We tested in a population-based cohort study, first, whether high-sensitive troponin T (hsTnT) and N-terminal pro-B-type natri...

Background Heart failure is a major cause of death in thalassemia. The study aimed to determine the diagnostic value of N Terminal Pro B Type Natriuretic Peptide (NT-pro BNP), to early diagnose the cardiac involvement in beta- thalassemia major patients. Materials and Methods  80 thalassemia patients aged 7 to 18 years old (patients group), and 80 healthy age and gender matched controls were ...

The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-Pro BNP) and nitric oxide (NO) with echocardiography (gold standard test) in diagnosis of canine cardiomyopathy. Out of 374 cases, 82 cases showing cardiovascular abnormalities including 16 cases of cardiomyopathy were further selected for standardization of biomarkers. Significant (P

Adiponectin exerts cardiovascular protective actions, although some studies have shown the opposite. In hemodialysis, obese subjects display lower mortality rates despite hypoadiponectinemia, while higher adiponectin concentrations correlate with an elevated cardiovascular risk in nonobese subjects. The aim of the study is to suggest that adiponectin level variations are associated with differe...