OBJECTIVES This study sought to test whether aortic valve calcium (AVC) is independently associated with coronary and cardiovascular events in a primary-prevention population. BACKGROUND Aortic sclerosis is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among the elderly, but the mechanisms underlying this association remain controversial. Also, it is unknown whether this as...

Patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have an increased cardiovascular risk. Although initially this increased risk was attributed to metabolic alterations associated with antiretroviral treatment, in recent years, the attention has been focused on the HIV disease itself. Inflammation, immune system activation, and endothelial dysfunction facilitated by HIV infection hav...

BACKGROUND In recent years, there has been a growing interest in understanding the pathogenic pathways of premature accelerated atherosclerosis (AS) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, the role of both traditional and non-traditional, SLE-specific risk factors is still under debate. AIM To assess surrogate biomarkers of subclinical AS in SLE and to evaluate potential relations wit...

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Cardiovascular risk assessment in this population is hampered by the failure of traditional risk factors to fully account for the elevated CVD risk (reverse epidemiology effect) and the presence of emerging risk factors specifically related to kidney failure. Th...

Hundreds of thousands of papers have addressed cardiovascular biomarkers in the last few decades. Blood biomarkers in particular have been a very attractive topic of research efforts for myriads of investigators, given that they require only a blood draw. Emerging biomarkers hold diverse promises.1,2 In theory, they may inform about cardiovascular risk; reclassify patients into more appropriate...

There is substantial interest in identifying new risk factors for cardiovascular disease, to improve our understanding of disease biology and to account for the cases of heart disease that cannot be explained by known risk factors. Investigation of putative risk factors frequently involves the study of circulating biomarkers. In recent years, a spirited debate has arisen regarding the validity ...

Atherosclerosis is the focal expression of a systemic disease affecting medium- and large-sized arteries, in which traditional cardiovascular risk factor and immune factors play a key role. It is well accepted that circulating biomarkers, including C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, reliably predict major cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction or death. However, the relevance...

BACKGROUND Risk prediction is an integral part of the current US guidelines for cardiovascular disease in women. Although current risk prediction algorithms exist to identify women at increased 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), clinicians and researchers have been interested in developing novel biomarkers that might improve predictive accuracy further. These biomarkers have led to i...

The central role of oxidative signalling in cardiovascular pathophysiology positions biometric measures of redox state as excellent markers for research and clinical application. However, despite this tantalizing biological plausibility, no redox biomarker is currently in widespread clinical use. Major recent insights into the mechanistic complexities of redox signalling may yet provide the opp...