Clinical and angiographic profile of the diabetic patient: one-year follow-up.

Unlabelled: Diabetes mellitus is associated with significant cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The authors describe the clinical and angiographic profile of a diabetic population undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, with one-year follow-up.

Methods: We retrospectively studied 769 patients (241 diabetic [D] and 528 nondiabetic [ND]) in terms of clinical and demographic characteristics, angiography and angioplasty data, and medical therapy, and analyzed the composite endpoint of adverse cardiac events at one month and one year.

Gene-gene interaction affects coronary artery disease risk.

Introduction: Various studies have compared coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with controls in order to determine which polymorphisms are associated with a higher risk of disease. The results have often been contradictory. Moreover, these studies evaluated polymorphisms in isolation and not in association, which is the way they occur in nature.

Pulse wave velocity and coronary risk stratification.

Background: Arterial compliance or stiffness is an important determinant of cardiovascular disease and there is considerable interest in its noninvasive measurement. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is widely used as an index of arterial stiffness.

Aim: To determine whether PWV is useful for risk stratification in both healthy individuals and coronary patients.

Human paraoxonase gene polymorphisms and coronary artery disease risk.

Background: Complex diseases such as coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension and diabetes are usually caused by individual susceptibility to multiple genes, environmental factors, and the interaction between them. The paraoxonase 1 (PON1) enzyme has been implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and CAD. Two common polymorphisms in the coding region of the PON1 gene, which lead to a glutamine (Q)/arginine (R) substitution at position 192 and a leucine (L)/methionine (M) substitution at position 55, influence PON1 activity.

Transient cardiomyopathy secondary to carbon monoxide poisoning.

A 4-year-old boy was found unconscious due to carbon monoxide poisoning, and required cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mechanical ventilation and inotropic support. Examination revealed cerebral edema, myocardial injury with left ventricular dilatation, depressed contractility and positive biomarkers. Complete recovery was seen at 4-month follow-up.

New diagnostic criteria for acute myocardial infarction and in-hospital mortality.

Background: The recent introduction of new diagnostic criteria for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), with troponin measurement, has increased the number of patients admitted with this diagnosis.

Objective: To evaluate the epidemiologic and prognostic implications of the new diagnostic criteria for AMI.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of 586 patients admitted for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to the coronary care unit of our hospital, between 2002 and 2003.

Polymorphism of the ACE gene is associated with extent and severity of coronary disease.

Background: The progression and extent of coronary heart disease (CHD) are extremely variable and in many instances independent of conventional risk factors. The differences may be partly explained by less favorable genetic polymorphisms that are associated with them. The polymorphisms of the angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) gene have been thoroughly evaluated, but the connection between them and the extent of CHD is unknown.

Angiotensin converting enzyme gene polymorphisms and coronary risk in a Portuguese population.

Background: A family history of coronary heart disease (CHD) is a strong risk marker for the disease, independently of classical risk factors. It could be decoded by recognizing the polymorphisms associated with increased risk. Renin-angiotensin system genes are candidate genes in CHD and the deletion allele of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) has been reported as deleterious.