Olive oil polyphenols decrease blood pressure and improve endothelial function in young women with mild hypertension.

Background: Olive oil polyphenols have been associated with several cardiovascular health benefits. This study aims to examine the influence of a polyphenol-rich olive oil on blood pressure (BP) and endothelial function in 24 young women with high-normal BP or stage 1 essential hypertension.

Methods: We conducted a double-blind, randomized, crossover dietary-intervention study.

Study of cerebral cavernous malformation in Spain and Portugal: high prevalence of a 14 bp deletion in exon 5 of MGC4607 (CCM2 gene).

Objective: We aimed to study clinical, radiological and molecular genetic features of patients with cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) from the Iberian Peninsula.

Methods: We screened Krit1(CCM1), MGC4607(CCM2), and PDCD10(CCM3) by systematic SSCP and direct sequencing of coding exons in 48 nuclear families and 30 sporadic cases of CCM from Spain and Portugal.

Results: Screening of CCM patients detected nine different mutations in 19 families.

A study of promoter and intronic markers of ApoI/Fas gene and the interaction with Fas ligand in relapsing multiple sclerosis.

We studied the association between multiple sclerosis (MS) and a novel single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), A/T(735)G/C, localized in intron IV of the ApoI/Fas gene, which is recognized by the restrictase MaeI. Fas-MaeI genotypes were screened in chromosomes of 215 healthy individuals and 312 relapsing MS patients of Spanish extraction. We also analyzed the interaction of this new intragenic marker with others previously associated with MS: class II HLA-DRB1*1501, Fas-MvaI and Fas ligand.