Anti-anginal and anti-ischemic effects of the selective beta-blocker talinolol in patients with stable angina pectoris.

Objective: To determine the dose dependency of the anti-anginal and antiischemic effects of the selective beta-blocker talinolol administered once-daily in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter study in patients with stable angina pectoris.

Methods: Standardized bicycle ergometry at baseline and after 3 and 6 weeks of treatment was used to assess exercise capacity. The primary endpoint was the change in the maximum exercise time (MET) 24 +/- 1 h after the last intake of study medication compared to baseline.

[Nebivolol, a third generation beta blocker: the modern treatment of hypertension. Results of a multicentric observational study].

Background: Nebivolol represents a new therapeutic class of beta blockers with high beta1 selectivity and the ability to modu late the direct vascular reactions through the liberation of nitric oxide (NO) by the endothelial cell. Its antihypertensive action develops at a once-daily dosage. The main aim of the study was to determine the tolerability and antihypertensive efficacy of nebivolol in hypertensives with or without concomitant diseases.

Beta-2 adrenergic receptor gene variations and coping styles in twins.

We tested the hypothesis that the beta-2 adrenergic receptor (beta-2 AR) gene locus, with known effects on blood pressure regulation, is also involved in psychological coping styles. 166 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins and DZ twin parents were investigated. We found common genetic variance for the coping factor Emotional Coping and blood pressure.

Beta-2 adrenergic receptor gene variations and blood pressure under stress in normal twins.

We tested the hypothesis that blood pressure (BP) responses to physical and mental stress are associated with polymorphisms in the beta-2 adrenergic receptor (AR) gene. We studied normotensive, young, monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins. The subjects underwent automated BP measurements at the brachial and digital arteries and were subjected to mental arithmetic and cold pressor stress.

[Nebivolol, a beta blocker of the 3rd generation: modern therapy of arterial hypertension. Results of a multicenter observation study].

Background: Nebivolol represents a therapeutic class of beta blockers with high beta 1 selectivity and modulatory effect on vascular reactions by releasing nitric oxide (NO) from endothelial cells. Its antihypertensive effect by once a day application is established. The aim of the study was to investigate the acceptability and the antihypertensive efficacy of Nebivolol in hypertensives with and without concomitant diseases.

Genetic influences on baroreflex function in normal twins.

Blood pressure and heart rate are strongly influenced by genetic factors; however, despite the pivotal role of genetics in short-term cardiovascular regulation, little is known about the genetic contribution to baroreflex function. We assessed genetic influence on baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in 149 twin pairs (88 monozygotic of age 33+/-13 years and BMI 23+/-4 kg/m(2) and 61 dizygotic of age 33+/-11 years and BMI 24+/-4 kg/m(2)). ECG and finger arterial blood pressures were measured continuously under resting conditions.

beta-2 adrenergic receptor gene variations, blood pressure, and heart size in normal twins.

Genetic variability, which influences cardiovascular phenotypes in normal persons, is likely to be relevant to cardiovascular disease. We studied normal monozygotic and dizygotic twins and found strong genetic influences on blood pressure and heart size. We then relied on the dizygotic twins and their parents to apply molecular genetic techniques.

A cholesterol-lowering gene maps to chromosome 13q.

A cholesterol-lowering gene has been postulated from familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) families having heterozygous persons with normal LDL levels and homozygous individuals with LDL levels similar to those in persons with heterozygous FH. We studied such a family with FH that also had members without FH and with lower-than-normal LDL levels. We performed linkage analyses and identified a locus at 13q, defined by markers D13S156 and D13S158.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma gene locus is related to body mass index and lipid values in healthy nonobese subjects.

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) gene has been implicated in morbid obesity and is important to lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. However, the relevance of gene variations in healthy nonobese subjects has not been defined. We recruited monozygotic and dizygotic healthy nonobese twin subjects to test the hypothesis that the PPARgamma gene is important to body mass index and lipid concentrations in healthy nonobese subjects.

Linkage but lack of association for blood pressure and the alpha-adducin locus in normotensive twins.

Background: alpha-adducin is a cytoskeletal protein involved with sodium-pump activity in the renal tubule. The alpha-adducin gene locus has been linked to hypertension and a polymorphism identified which is associated with hypertension; however, the role of the alpha-adducin gene locus in normal blood pressure regulation is not defined. We performed a combined linkage and association study in normotensive monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins and their parents to address this issue.

Quantitative trait loci for blood pressure exist near the IGF-1, the Liddle syndrome, the angiotensin II-receptor gene and the renin loci in man.

Blood pressure (BP) is heritable and finding quantitative trait loci that influence BP is an important step in identifying genes responsible for BP regulation. Sixty-six pairs of dizygotic (DZ) twin subjects and their parents were used in a sib-pair analysis to look for linkage of selected candidate genes to the quantitative trait BP. Microsatellite markers were tested in the vicinity of the gene loci for insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), Liddle syndrome, autosomal-dominant hypertension with brachydactyly, angiotensinogen, angiotensin II type 1 receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme, renin, and lipoprotein lipase.

Genetic and environmental influences on coping styles: a twin study.

Objective: Coping styles are generally considered to be environmentally driven, primarily by family influences. However, because personality traits are commonly influenced by genetic effects, we hypothesized that heredity is also important for coping.

Methods: We tested this hypothesis by assessing 19 coping styles, as well as four secondary coping factors, by questionnaire in 212 pairs of monozygotic and dizygotic twins.

QT interval is linked to 2 long-QT syndrome loci in normal subjects.

Background: The rate-corrected QT interval (QTc) is heritable, and the discovery of quantitative trait loci that influence the QTc would be an important step in identifying the genes responsible for life-threatening arrhythmias in the general population. We studied 66 pairs of unselected normal dizygotic (DZ) twin subjects and their parents in a sib-pair analysis. We tested for linkage of gene loci harboring genes known to cause the long-QT syndrome (LQT) to the quantitative trait QTc.

Chymase gene locus is not associated with myocardial infarction and is not linked to heart size or blood pressure.

The chymase gene is said to be important for the generation of angiotensin II in the heart and therefore is a candidate gene for heart disease. However, we were unable to find an association between allelic variants of the chymase gene and acute myocardial infarction or linkage between the chymase gene locus and heart size.

Treatment of high blood pressure in Germany.

The reunification of Germany has made it possible to compare the health care in two independently developed social structures. The prevalence of hypertension was considerably greater in East German men and women, compared with West German men and women, although salt intake was lower in East Germany than in West Germany. Cardiovascular mortality was correspondingly greater.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme and angiotensinogen gene polymorphisms and heart rate variability in twins.

Decreased heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with congestive heart failure, post-myocardial infarction, ventricular arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death, and advancing age. A deletion/insertion polymorphism in the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene and a substitution (M235T) in the angiotensinogen gene have been associated with risk for heart disease. The aim of this study was to determine the heritability of HRV and related parameters in monozygotic and dizygotic twins and to assess the influence of ACE and angiotensinogen polymorphisms.

Heritability analysis of lipids and three gene loci in twins link the macrophage scavenger receptor to HDL cholesterol concentrations.

We studied 100 healthy monozygotic and 72 dizygotic twin pairs (mean age, 34 +/- 14 years) to test for genetic influences on blood lipids and to examine relevant gene loci. Total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglyceride (TG) levels were determined after a 12-hour fast. Zygosity was determined with the use of microsatellite markers.

Twin zygosity. Automated determination with microsatellites.

Objective: Twin zygosity determinations can be performed with anthropologic, serologic and genetic markers; however, these methods are more than occasionally inefficient, often expensive and sometimes inaccurate. We used microsatellites as DNA markers and developed a largely automated, rapid and efficient method of determining zygosity.

Study Design: We used five highly polymorphic short tandem repeat loci, coamplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using fluorescence-labeled primers.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme and angiotensinogen gene polymorphisms, plasma levels, cardiac dimensions. A twin study.

We tested the hypotheses that angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion (I/D) and angiotensinogen 235 methionine/threonine (M/T) substitution gene polymorphisms influence angiotensin-converting enzyme and angiotensiongen serum concentrations and cardiac dimensions in 91 monozygotic and 41 dizygotic twin pairs. Cardiac dimensions were determined echocardiographically. Angiotensin-converting enzyme levels were 24 +/- 11, 43 +/- 18, and 58 +/- 24 U/L for the II, ID, and DD genotypes, respectively (P < .

Genetic influences on blood pressure with the cold-pressor test: a twin study.

Objectives: To determine the genetic and environmental contributions to resting blood pressure, the level of blood pressure during the cold-pressor test and the increase in blood pressure with the cold-pressor test in an adult cohort of normotensive twins.

Design And Methods: Ninety-one monozygotic and 41 dizygotic normal twin pairs were recruited by advertisement. The mean age was 34 +/- 14 years (mean +/- SD).