Increased Risk of the rs11279109 Polymorphism for CHD among the Kuwaiti Population.

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is among the leading causes of death in Kuwait. This case-control study investigated the genetic association of rs11279109 with CHD in Kuwaitis.

Methods: The polymorphism was genotyped in 734 Kuwaiti samples by direct amplification.

Association of the insertion allele of the common ACE gene polymorphism with type 2 diabetes mellitus among Kuwaiti cardiovascular disease patients.

Background And Objectives: The D allele of the common angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) I/D gene polymorphism (rs4646994) predisposes to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, results on which allele predisposes to disease susceptibility remain controversial in Asian populations. This study was performed to evaluate the association of the common ACE I/D gene polymorphism with both T2DM and CVD susceptibility in an Arab population.

RU28318, an aldosterone antagonist, in combination with an ACE inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker attenuates cardiac dysfunction in diabetes.

Aims: We evaluated the effects of RU28318 (RU), a selective mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist, Captopril (Capt), an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, and Losartan (Los), an angiotensin receptor blocker, alone or in combination with ischemia/reperfusion- (I/R-) induced cardiac dysfunction in hearts obtained from normal and diabetic rats.

Methods: Isolated hearts were perfused for 30 min and then subjected to 30 min of global ischemia (I) followed by a period of 30 min of reperfusion (R). Drugs were administered for 30 min either before or after ischemia.

Chronic treatment with LY294002, an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, attenuates ischemia/reperfusion-induced cardiac dysfunction in normotensive and hypertensive diabetic animals.

Diabetes is associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular disease. Mechanisms that contribute to development of diabetic cardiopathy are not well understood. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) is a family of protein kinases that play an important role in regulation of cardiac function.

Carina modification T stenting, a new bifurcation stenting technique: clinical and angiographic data from the first 156 consecutive patients.

Objectives: To describe a new technique, the Carina modification T stenting (CMT), which will provide an easily reproducible strategy for tackling bifurcation lesions in different patient and anatomic subsets.

Background: The optimal treatment of coronary bifurcation lesions remains problematic. The question of using one stent in the main vessel (MV) with PTCA of the side-branch (SB) versus stenting both arms (MV and SB) is debated.

Accuracy of 64-multidetector-row computed tomography in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease.

Objectives: The aim of this prospective study was to assess the accuracy of 64-multidetector-row computed tomography coronary angiography (CTA) in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD).

Patients And Methods: Ninety-two patients suspected of having CAD underwent CTA using a 64-slice CT scanner before a scheduled, conventional coronary angiogram (CCA). Blinded assessment of CTA to detect CAD was performed.

Apolipoprotein E, CI and B gene polymorphisms in a sample of patients with coronary heart disease in the Kuwaiti population.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the possible association of clinical variables and apolipoprotein (APOE, APOCI and APOB) polymorphisms with the development of myocardial infraction (MI) and coronary heart disease (CHD) in Kuwaitis.

Subjects And Methods: APOE, APOCI and APOB genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism in 143 Kuwaiti CHD patients with (n = 88) and without (n = 55) MI and in 122 controls matched for gender and age. Statistical and genetic analyses of the genotype, allele and haplotype frequencies, as well as regression analyses of genetic and clinical variables were done.

Prevalence of overweight, obesity, and metabolic syndrome among adult Kuwaitis: results from community-based national survey.

Background: Although, metabolic syndrome and obesity are cardiovascular risk factors, little systematically collected community-based data are available from the Arabian Gulf region.

Methods: We report a nationwide cross-sectional study from Kuwait. A random sample was selected.

Percutaneous revascularization of unprotected left main: results of PCI using drug-eluting stent in ostial versus distal bifurcation disease.

Background: Coronary artery bypass graft surgery is standard treatment for unprotected left main coronary artery disease. Recently, drug-eluting stents have been used to treat unprotected left main coronary artery disease.

Objective: To analyze data for consecutive patients treated at a single center with drug-eluting stents for unprotected left main coronary artery disease.

One-year outcomes with the Taxus Liberté stent in the real world: the Taxus Olympia registry (phase I).

Background: The Taxus Olympia registry is a prospective, postapproval registry collecting clinical outcomes data on patients receiving the Taxus Liberté paclitaxel-eluting stent during routine interventional cardiology practice.

Methods: Between February and July 2005, 529 patients receiving the Taxus Liberté stent at 16 centers in the Middle East, South/Central America, and Asia/Pacific regions were enrolled in Phase I of Olympia. The primary end-point was Taxus Liberté stent-related cardiac events (cardiac death, MI, and revascularization) at 30 days postimplant.

Ankle-brachial index and extent of atherosclerosis in patients from the Middle East (the AGATHA-ME study): a cross-sectional multicenter study.

To assess the extent of atherothrombosis and the use of the ankle-brachial index (ABI) in populations from the Middle East, we conducted a multicenter study similar to AGATHA (a Global Atherothrombosis Assessment), AGATHA-ME, which included 1341 patients from 18 centers from 5 countries (United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman). Patients were assigned to 2 groups: the with-disease and at-risk groups. Abnormal ABI (< or =0.

Maternal-fetal transport kinetics of carboplatin in the perfused human placental lobule: in vitro study.

Objective: Platinum-containing drugs are widely used in the treatment of various malignancies in humans. There is a paucity of data on maternal-fetal transport characteristics of one such widely used drug, carboplatin, and this prompted us to study its permeation characteristics in the human placenta in vitro.

Methods: Placentae from uncomplicated, normal pregnancies were collected postpartum.

Maternal-fetal transport kinetics of methotrexate in perfused human placenta: in vitro study.

Objective: Folate antagonists are widely used in the treatment of diverse cancerous states. A paucity of data on transport characteristics of one such widely used drug, methotrexate, in the human placenta, prompted us to study its permeation characteristics in vitro.

Methods: Placentas from normal pregnancies were collected post-partum.

Cardioprotection from ischemia-reperfusion injury due to Ras-GTPase inhibition is attenuated by glibenclamide in the globally ischemic heart.

The present study was designed to see if acute local inhibition of Ras-GTPase before or after ischemia (during perfusion) would produce protection against ischemia and reperfusion (I/R)-induced cardiac dysfunction. The effect of glibenclamide, an inhibitor of cardiac mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium (mitoK(ATP)) channels, on Ras-GTPase-mediated cardioprotection was also studied. A 40 min episode of global ischemia followed by a 30 min reperfusion in perfused rat hearts produced significantly impaired cardiac function, measured as left ventricular developed pressure (P(max)) and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP).

Impact of fasting in Ramadan in patients with cardiac disease.

Objectives: To investigate whether Ramadan fasting has any effect on patients with heart disease.

Methods: We prospectively studied 465 outpatients with heart disease who were fasting during the month of Ramadan from October 24 to November 24, 2003. These studied subjects were from various medical centers in the Gulf region; State of Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.