The novel phosphodiesterase inhibitor NM-702 improves claudication-limited exercise performance in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

Objectives: The current study tested the hypothesis that NM-702 improves treadmill exercise performance in peripheral arterial disease patients with claudication-limited exercise performance.

Background: Patients with claudication experience significant disability, owing to their exercise limitation. Therapeutic options to improve exercise performance in these patients are limited.

Total nitrogen oxide following exercise testing reflects endothelial function and discriminates health status.

Nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability is important in vascular health, but unsuitable as a clinical measure due to biological oxidation. Total nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) are stable but background nitrate levels make it difficult to detect disease-based variation. We investigated the clinical discriminatory value of NO(x) as it relates to exercise capability (VO(2peak)) and brachial artery reactivity (BAR, an NO-dependent measure of endothelial health), in healthy (H), increased risk (RF), and known cardiovascular disease (CVD) subjects.

Positional nystagmus of central origin.

Audiometric, electrophysiologic, and radiographic findings for a 68-year-old male with an "imbalance" concern are presented. This paper has a two-fold purpose: (1) to present an unusual electronystagmography case study and (2) to highlight the importance of test conditions in lesion localization. The specific disease pathophysiology remains obscure.

Regional and whole-body markers of nitric oxide production following hyperemic stimuli.

The measurement of nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability is of great clinical interest in the assessment of vascular health. However, NO is rapidly oxidized to form nitrite and nitrate and thus its direct detection in biological systems is difficult. Venous plasma nitrite (nM concentrations) has been shown to be a marker of forearm NO production following pharmacological stimulation of the endothelium utilizing acetylcholine (Ach).

Hormone therapy and antioxidant vitamins do not improve endothelial vasodilator function in postmenopausal women with established coronary artery disease: a substudy of the Women's Angiographic Vitamin and Estrogen (WAVE) trial.

We measured flow-mediated dilation (FMD) by high-resolution brachial ultrasound in 61 women who participated in the Women's Angiographic Vitamin and Estrogen (WAVE) trial, a randomized controlled trial. There were no significant differences in the baseline demographics of women receiving hormone therapy (0.625 mg/day of conjugated equine estrogen plus 2.

Role of mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase in nitroglycerin-induced vasodilation of coronary and systemic vessels: an intact canine model.

Background: It has recently been shown that mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (mtALDH) catalyzes the formation of 1,2-glyceryl dinitrate and nitrite from nitroglycerin (glyceryl trinitrate [GTN]) within mitochondria, leading to production of cGMP and vasorelaxation. However, whether this mechanism operates in the systemic and coronary beds that subserve the antianginal action of GTN is not known. In this study, we address this question in an intact canine model.

The effect of vitamin therapy on the progression of coronary artery atherosclerosis varies by haptoglobin type in postmenopausal women.

Objective: Antioxidant trials have not demonstrated efficacy in slowing cardiovascular disease but could not rule out benefit for specific patient subgroups. Antioxidant therapy reduces LDL oxidizability in haptoglobin 1 allele homozygotes (Hp 1-1), but not in individuals with the haptoglobin 2 allele (Hp 2-1 or Hp 2-2). We therefore hypothesized that haptoglobin type would be predictive of the effect of vitamin therapy on coronary atherosclerosis as assessed by angiography.

Women's angiographic vitamin and estrogen trial: design and methods.

The Women's Angiographic Vitamin and Estrogen trial was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study designed to test the efficacy of estrogen replacement and antioxidant vitamins for preventing angiographic progression of coronary artery disease. Postmenopausal women with one or more angiographically documented coronary stenoses of 15-75% at baseline were assigned in a 2 x 2 factorial randomization to active hormone replacement therapy (conjugated estrogens for women who had had a hysterectomy or conjugated estrogens with medroxyprogesterone for women with intact uteri) or placebo and to active vitamins E and C or their placebos. Seven clinical centers, five in the United States and two in Canada, randomized 423 women between July 1997 and July 1999.

Effects of hormone replacement therapy and antioxidant vitamin supplements on coronary atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial.

Context: Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and antioxidant vitamins are widely used for secondary prevention in postmenopausal women with coronary disease, but no clinical trials have demonstrated benefit to support their use.

Objective: To determine whether HRT or antioxidant vitamin supplements, alone or in combination, influence the progression of coronary artery disease in postmenopausal women, as measured by serial quantitative coronary angiography.

Design, Setting, And Patients: The Women's Angiographic Vitamin and Estrogen (WAVE) Trial, a randomized, double-blind trial of 423 postmenopausal women with at least one 15% to 75% coronary stenosis at baseline coronary angiography.