[Alcohol and cardiovascular diseases. Current knowledge and controversies].

Epidemiological studies have suggested that cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality can be decreased by moderate alcohol consumption. Pattern of drinking, defined as binge versus steady drinking, plays a role in the relation between alcohol intake and cardiovascular disease. Several studies have also assessed the relative risk associated to different types of alcoholic beverages.

A meta-analysis of studies on wine and beer and cardiovascular disease.

Many epidemiologic studies have evaluated whether different alcoholic beverages protect against cardiovascular disease. We performed a meta-analysis of 26 studies on relationship between wine or beer consumption and vascular risk. General variance-based method and fitting models were applied to pooled data derived from 26 studies that gave quantitative estimation of the vascular risk associated with either beverage consumption.

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic differences between two low dosages of aspirin may affect therapeutic outcomes.

Background: Meta-analyses of the prevention of major vascular events by aspirin suggest therapeutic equivalence of all dosages. However, the optimal dosage still remains problematic, and a recent trial found aspirin 160 mg/day to be more effective than 80 mg/day for secondary prevention of ischaemic stroke.

Objective: To evaluate two low dosages of aspirin in terms of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (inhibition of platelet thromboxane generation and urinary excretion of thromboxane and prostacyclin metabolites).

Prevention of thrombosis and vascular inflammation: benefits and limitations of selective or combined COX-1, COX-2 and 5-LOX inhibitors.

Anti-thrombotic therapy with aspirin, which at low doses acts as a selective inhibitor of platelet cyclooxygenase 1 (COX-1) activity, is well established. However, a major limitation of aspirin treatment is its gastrointestinal toxicity, which is thought to be linked to the suppression of COX-1-mediated production of cytoprotective prostaglandins. Selective COX-2 inhibitors are effective anti-inflammatory agents with lower gastrointestinal toxicity than aspirin.

Antithrombotic effect of polyphenols in experimental models: a mechanism of reduced vascular risk by moderate wine consumption.

Epidemiological studies have suggested that cardiovascular disease can be decreased by moderate wine consumption, but an overall quantitative estimation of the relationship between wine intake and vascular risk is lacking. A meta-analysis was therefore performed on 19 studies selected on the basis of the availability of specific information on the cardiovascular relative risk (RR) associated with wine consumption. A significant risk reduction (RR: 0.

Meta-analysis of wine and beer consumption in relation to vascular risk.

Background: Many epidemiological studies have evaluated whether different alcoholic beverages protect against cardiovascular disease. We performed a meta-analysis of 26 studies on the relationship between wine or beer consumption and vascular risk. Methods and Results- General variance-based method and fitting models were applied to pooled data derived from 26 studies that gave a quantitative estimation of the vascular risk associated with either beverage consumption.

Long pentraxin PTX3 upregulates tissue factor expression in human endothelial cells: a novel link between vascular inflammation and clotting activation.

Inflammation is a major contributing factor to atherosclerotic plaque development and ischemic heart disease. PTX3 is a long pentraxin that was recently found to be increased in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Because tissue factor (TF), the in vivo trigger of blood coagulation, plays a dominant role in thrombus formation after plaque rupture, we tested the possibility that PTX3 could modulate TF expression.

Platelet adhesion and aggregation and fibrin formation in flowing blood: a historical contribution by Giulio Bizzozero.

At the occasion of the first centennial of Giulio Bizzozero's death, the modern readers' attention is addressed to some ingenious experiments Bizzozero performed in Turin, Italy, around 1880. He discovered and carefully described blood platelet function in flowing conditions and the relationship between platelet adhesion to an artificial surface, aggregation and subsequent fibrin formation and deposition on activated platelet membrane. Bizzozero challenged contemporary concepts involving leukocytes in blood coagulation, but concluded that participation of blood platelets and white cells in fibrin formation was conceivable.