Vascular Function Is Improved After an Environmental Enrichment Program: The Train the Brain-Mind the Vessel Study.

Unlabelled: Environmental enrichment may slow cognitive decay possibly acting through an improvement in vascular function. Aim of the study was to assess the effects of a 7-month cognitive, social, and physical training program on cognitive and vascular function in patients with mild cognitive impairment. In a single-center, randomized, parallel-group study, 113 patients (age, 65-89 years) were randomized to multidomain training (n=55) or usual care (n=58).

Longitudinal micro-ultrasound assessment of the ob/ob mouse model: evaluation of cardiovascular, renal and hepatic parameters.

Background/objectives: Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions and is associated with increased risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Leptin-deficient mice (ob/ob) are widely employed to investigate obesity. Aim of this study was to provide a micro-ultrasound (μUS) longitudinal evaluation of the ob/ob mouse model in terms of cardiovascular effects, consequences for renal microcirculation and liver fat accumulation.

Ultrasound-based Pulse Wave Velocity Evaluation in Mice.

Arterial stiffness can be evaluated by calculating pulse wave velocity (PWV), i.e., the speed with which the pulse wave travels in a conduit vessel.

Impact of seasonality and air pollutants on carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity and wave reflection in hypertensive patients.

Objective: The effects of seasonality on blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular (CV) events are well established, while the influence of seasonality and other environmental factors on arterial stiffness and wave reflection has never been analyzed. This study evaluated whether seasonality (daily number of hours of light) and acute variations in outdoor temperature and air pollutants may affect carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) and pressure augmentation.

Design And Method: 731 hypertensive patients (30-88 years, 417 treated) were enrolled in a cross-sectional study during a 5-year period.

Carotid and aortic stiffness in essential hypertension and their relation with target organ damage: the CATOD study.

Objective: The objective of the study is to investigate in the hypertensive population the possible differential association between increased aortic and/or carotid stiffness and organ damage in multiple districts, such as the kidney, the vessels, and the heart.

Methods: In 314 essential hypertensive patients, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV, by applanation tonometry) and carotid stiffness (from ultrasound images analysis), together with left ventricular hypertrophy, carotid intima-media thickness, urinary albumin-creatinin ratio, and glomerular filtration rate were measured. Increased cfPWV and carotid stiffness were defined according to either international reference values or the 90th percentile of a local control group (110 age and sex-matched healthy individuals).