The impact of polyunsaturated fatty acid-based dietary supplements on disease biomarkers in a metabolic syndrome/diabetes population.

Background: Ingestion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) has been proposed to influence several chronic diseases including coronary heart disease (CHD) and type-2 diabetes (T2D).There is strong evidence that omega-3 (n-3) PUFAs provide protection against CHD and biomarkers of atherosclerosis. In contrast, there is more limited and inconsistent data for T2D.

Effect of simvastatin (80 mg) on coronary and abdominal aortic arterial calcium (from the coronary artery calcification treatment with zocor [CATZ] study).

We tested the hypothesis that, compared with placebo, simvastatin would reduce the progression of coronary artery calcium (CAC) and abdominal aortic calcium (AAC) levels in participants asymptomatic for vascular disease. Total CAC and AAC were measured with multidetector cardiac computed tomography. Inclusion criteria were a CAC score of >or=50 Agatston units, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levelor=2 other risk factors.

Coronary artery calcium outperforms carotid artery intima-media thickness as a noninvasive index of prevalent coronary artery stenosis.

Objective: Increased carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and increased coronary artery calcium (CAC) are noninvasive surrogate indices of prevalent coronary artery disease (CAD). We compared CAC to IMT for noninvasive detection of prevalent CAD in participants whose coronary status was identified by coronary angiography.

Methods And Results: Male and female CAD patients (> or =50% stenosis in one or more coronary artery, n=79) and controls (no lumen irregularities, n=93) were identified using coronary angiography.