Evidence for carotid and radial artery wall subclinical lesions in renal fibromuscular dysplasia.

Background: Fibromuscular dysplasia (FD) is a non-atherosclerotic, non-inflammatory arterial disease of unknown cause, and most frequently affects the renal and internal carotid arteries. Our objectives were to determine whether quantitative and qualitative lesions could be detected by high-resolution echotracking techniques at two arterial sites generally considered as free of echographic lesions: the common carotid and the radial arteries, and to compare their frequency with a control population.

Methods And Results: We studied 70 patients with renal FD and 70 control subjects matched for age, sex and systolic blood pressure.

Physiological genomics of human arteries: quantitative relationship between gene expression and arterial stiffness.

Background: Previous genomic studies with human tissues have compared differential gene expression between 2 conditions (ie, normal versus diseased) to identify altered gene expression in a binary manner; however, a potentially more informative approach is to correlate the levels of gene expression with quantitative physiological parameters.

Methods And Results: In this study, we have used this approach to examine genes whose expression correlates with arterial stiffness in human aortic specimens. Our data identify 2 distinct groups of genes, those associated with cell signaling and those associated with the mechanical regulation of vascular structure (cytoskeletal-cell membrane-extracellular matrix).

Enoxaparin in unstable angina patients who would have been excluded from randomized pivotal trials.

Objectives: In the present study, we describe the characteristics and examine the anticoagulation levels and safety of subcutaneous enoxaparin in unstable angina (UA)/non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) patients who would not have been eligible in the Efficacy Safety Subcutaneous Enoxaparin in Non-Q-wave Coronary Events (ESSENCE) and Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI)-11B trials.

Background: It is not known whether the benefit shown with enoxaparin in the selected population of pivotal trials can be extended to the real world.

Methods: In our center, all patients with UA/NSTEMI are anticoagulated with subcutaneous enoxaparin adjusted to creatinine clearance.