Endocan expression correlated with total volume of coronary artery dilation in patients with coronary artery ectasia.

Introduction: Inflammation and angiogenesis disturbances are considered as factors contributing to the development of coronary artery ectasias (CAE). Endocan (endothelial cell-specific molecule-1 - ESM-1) regulates both inflammatory and angiogenetic processes. However, there are no data about the correlation between endocan level and the severity of CAE measured with total volume of coronary artery dilation.

Photosensitivity reactions in the elderly population: questionnaire-based survey and literature review.

Purpose: Older people are at risk of developing adverse drug reactions, including photosensitivity reactions. Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess the use of potentially photosensitizing medications and photoprotection in the elderly population.

Patients And Methods: Three hundred and fifty-six respondents (223 [63%] women and 133 [37%] men) aged ≥65 years filled in the original questionnaire concerning photosensitivity reactions to drugs.

Neopterin as a Biomarker in Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension.

Background: Upregulation of the immune system is regarded to play an important role in the etiopathobiology of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). To the best of our knowledge, neopterin (NP) has never been investigated in patients with PAH and CTEPH.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the concentration of NP in blood in order to examine its impact on outcome and relationship with disease severity in that population.

[The assessment of neopterin concentration in patients with heart failure].

Unlabelled: Blood serum concentration of neopterin provides knowledge about current cells immunological respond and might be used as a predictor of the progression in many disorders. THE AIM OF THE STUDY was the assessment of the blood serum concentration of neopterin in patients with heart failure and evaluation if there is any correlation between this protein and the stage and etiology of chronic heart failure (CHF).

Material And Methods: 47 patients with chronic heart failure were studied.

Evaluation of the antihypertensive effect of L-arginine supplementation in patients with mild hypertension assessed with ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

Background: Arterial hypertension is one of the most important cardiovascular risk factors, featuring the unsatisfactory efficacy of current therapies. The cardiovascular disease paradigm which assumes a crucial role of the endothelial phenotype in shaping the state of the circulatory system has become increasingly dominant and endothelial dysfunction should be treated as avidly as the diseases of other organs. The most valued current anti-hypertensive therapies exert a positive influence on the endothelium due to their pleiotropic effects, but the search for new effective strategies aimed at improving endothelial function is underway.

Neopterin as a prognostic marker in patients with chronic heart failure.

Background: The study aimed at evaluating neopterin concentration in relation to heart failure etiology and determining basal neopterin concentration in relation to the clinical state of patients after 12 months of standard treatment.

Material/methods: The examined group was composed of 47 patients with NYHA class II and III heart failure and 20 healthy volunteers. Neopterin concentration in blood serum was determined with a radioimmunological assay.

Exercise testing in adults after repair of aortic coarctation: evaluation of cardiopulmonary exercise capacity and B-type natriuretic protein levels.

The aim of the study was to investigate, in adult patients after successful repair of aortic coarctation, potential relationships between B-type natriuretic peptide levels and exercise capacity and the following factors: arterial hypertension, residual stenosis of the ascending aorta, and age at the time of surgery. The study group comprised 74 patients (45 men) aged 19 to 61 years (mean, 31.2 +/- 9.

Evaluation of exercise capacity with cardiopulmonary exercise testing and type B natriuretic peptide concentrations in adult patients with patent atrial septal defect.

Unlabelled: Adults with patent atrial septal defect (ASD) usually find their exercise capacity satisfactory, and therefore hesitate to accept proposed surgical treatment of the heart disease. The aim of our study was to evaluate both the exercise capacity, using the cardio-pulmonary stress test, and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in asymptomatic adults with ASD. Thirty-six patients with patent secundum type ASD (aged mean 44.

Adults with Ebstein's anomaly--Cardiopulmonary exercise testing and BNP levels exercise capacity and BNP in adults with Ebstein's anomaly.

Introduction: Ebstein's anomaly is defined as the significant apical displacement of the part of the tricuspid valve causing significant tricuspid regurgitation and reduction of the functional right ventricle. The aim of the study was to evaluate exercise capacity with cardiopulmonary stress testing and to determine plasma BNP levels in adults with Ebstein's anomaly, and to establish their relation with echocardiogaphic grading of the lesion severity.

Materials And Methods: Study group consisted of 21 patients (16 males, aged 40.

The BNP concentrations and exercise capacity assessment with cardiopulmonary stress test in patients after surgical repair of Fallot's tetralogy.

Adult patients after surgical repair of Fallot's tetralogy usually present with satisfactory exercise capacity years after the original procedure, though they never tolerate as high levels of exercise as their healthy counterparts. The aim of the study was to assess exercise capacity with cardiopulmonary stress test and BNP levels in adult survivors of surgical repair of Fallot's tetralogy. We studied 60 patients with no or only mild symptoms (including 29 males), at the mean age of 27.