Risk stratification by accelerated high-dose dipyridamole stress echocardiography in patients over 70 years of age.

Background: The non-invasive prognostic assessment of coronary artery disease in patients over 70 years old is an important goal in daily clinical practice.

Objectives: To retrospectively assess the feasibility, the positive and negative predictive values and the accuracy of accelerated high-dose dipyridamole stress echocardiography in patients over 70 years old.

Methods: Three hundred seventy nine patients (226 women; mean age of 75.

Sclerochorioretinal abnormalities in hypercholesterolemic rabbits treated with rosiglitazone.

Background And Objective: To evaluate early retinal, choroidal, and scleral abnormalities induced by a hypercholesterolemic diet and the prevention of these abnormalities after oral administration of rosiglitazone in rabbits.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-four New Zealand rabbits were divided into four study groups: control group, normal diet; group 1, hypercholesterolemic diet; group 2, hypercholesterolemic diet associated with daily administration of 3 mg of rosiglitazone from day 14 after beginning the diet; and group 3, hypercholesterolemic diet associated with daily administration of 3 mg of rosiglitazone since the beginning of the experiment. Sclera and choroid underwent histologic and histomorphometric analyses.

Rosiglitazone and vascular injury in hypercholesterolemic rabbits: neointimal formation assessment.

Background: Rosiglitazone has been the focus of extensive discussion.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of rosiglitazone on iliac arteries, both at the injury site and the contralateral artery, of hypercholesterolemic rabbits undergoing balloon catheter injury.

Methods: White male rabbits were fed a hypercholesterolemic diet by oral gavage for 6 weeks and divided into two groups as follows: rosiglitazone group (14 rabbits treated with rosiglitazone during 6 weeks) and the control group (18 rabbits without rosiglitazone).

Appropriateness of carotid plaque and intima-media thickness assessment in routine clinical practice.

Objectives: To describe the findings and evaluate appropriateness of a carotid artery study including the measurement of IMT, the presence of atherosclerotic plaque, and their correlation with cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods: 555 patients (220 men; 67.06 +/- 12.

Use of rosiglitazone before and after vascular injury in hypercholesterolemic rabbits: Assessment of neointimal formation.

Objectives: To analyse the effects of rosiglitazone administered at different times on neointimal formation in hypercholesterolemic rabbits following vascular injury.

Methods: Thirty-nine rabbits on a hypercholesterolemic diet were included. The animals underwent balloon catheter injury to the right iliac artery on day 14.

Effects of rosiglitazone on contralateral iliac artery after vascular injury in hypercholesterolemic rabbits.

Background: The objective was to evaluate the effects of rosiglitazone on iliac arteries of hypercholesterolemic rabbits undergoing balloon catheter injury in the contralateral iliac arteries.

Methods: White male rabbits were fed a hypercholesterolemic diet for 6 weeks and divided into two groups as follows: rosiglitazone group, 14 rabbits treated with rosiglitazone (3 mg/Kg body weight/day) during 6 weeks; and control group, 18 rabbits without rosiglitazone treatment. All animals underwent balloon catheter injury of the right iliac artery on the fourteenth day of the experiment.

Influence of quality of sleep on the nocturnal decline in blood pressure during ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

Objective: To assess the influence of the quality of sleep on the nocturnal physiological drop in blood pressure during ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

Methods: We consecutively assessed ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, the degree of tolerance for the examination, and the quality of sleep in 168 patients with hypertension or with the suspected "white-coat" effect. Blood pressure fall during sleep associated with a specific questionnaire and an analogical visual scale of tolerance for ambulatory blood pressure monitoring were used to assess usual sleep and sleep on the day of examination.

Obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract after mitral valvuloplasty with implantation of Gregori's ring.

Mitral valvuloplasty is efficient for repairing mitral valve disease with few complications. In some cases, obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract may occur due to systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve. We report the case of a patient with this complication and a pressure gradient between the left ventricle and the aorta of 130 mm Hg after mitral valvuloplasty with implantation of a Gregori's ring.