Methods, design, and initial results of an angiographic core lab from VOYAGER-PAD.

Anatomy is critical in risk stratification and therapeutic decision making in coronary disease. The relationship between anatomy and outcomes is not well described in PAD. We sought to develop an angiographic core lab within the VOYAGER-PAD trial.

Toward a Blood-Borne Biomarker of Chronic Hypoxemia: Red Cell Distribution Width and Respiratory Disease.

Hypoxemia (systemic oxygen desaturation) marks the presence, risk, and progression of many diseases. Episodic or nocturnal hypoxemia can be challenging to detect and quantify. A sensitive, specific, and convenient marker of recent oxygen desaturation represents an unmet medical need.

Persistent increase in red cell size distribution width after acute diseases: A biomarker of hypoxemia?

Background: A biomarker of hypoxic exposure would be useful in clinical diagnosis and prognosis. Acute hypoxia stimulates large increases in serum erythropoietin (EPO), and EPO induces formation of characteristic enlarged red blood cells (RBCs). The presence of large RBCs perturbs red cell distribution width (RDW).

Receipt of palivizumab before birth hospitalization discharge among preterm infants in the United States.

Objective: This study aims to determine predischarge palivizumab receipt prevalence among infants ≤ 36 weeks' gestational age.

Study Design: This retrospective cohort study used hospital discharge records from the Premier Perspective database (Premier Inc., Charlotte, NC) of infants ≤ 36 weeks' gestational age who were discharged home after birth hospitalization during the November-March respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) seasons from 2006 to 2011.

Lower mortality following pulmonary adverse events and sepsis with ticagrelor compared to clopidogrel in the PLATO study.

In the PLATelet inhibition and patient Outcomes (PLATO) study of patients with acute coronary syndromes, ticagrelor reduced mortality compared to clopidogrel but the mechanisms for this mortality reduction remain uncertain. We analysed adverse events (AEs) consistent with either pulmonary infection or sepsis, and subsequent mortality, in 18,421 PLATO patients treated with ticagrelor or clopidogrel. AEs occurring within 7 days of last dose of study medication were defined as "on-treatment".

Ticagrelor versus clopidogrel in patients with acute coronary syndromes undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery: results from the PLATO (Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes) trial.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ticagrelor and clopidogrel in patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), as a post-randomization strategy.

Background: Ticagrelor is a novel, reversibly binding, oral, direct-acting P2Y(12)-receptor antagonist. In the PLATO (Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes) trial, which randomized 18,624 patients with acute coronary syndromes, ticagrelor compared with clopidogrel significantly reduced the risk of the primary composite end point of cardiovascular (CV) death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.

Relationship of ethnic origin, gender, and age to blood creatine kinase levels.

Background: Creatine kinase is expressed at high levels in muscle, where it plays a central role in energy metabolism. Highly elevated creatine kinase levels in blood may indicate muscle trauma or disease. However, it is known that baseline creatine kinase levels are higher in African Americans than in whites and that they are higher in men than in women.

Rosuvastatin reduces non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and lipoprotein remnants in patients with dysbetalipoproteinemia (Fredrickson type III hyperlipoproteinemia).

Background: Dysbetalipoproteinemia is an uncommon genetic disorder characterized by accumulation of plasma remnant lipoproteins, severe mixed dyslipidemia, elevated apolipoprotein E levels, accelerated atherosclerosis, and premature cardiovascular disease.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of rosuvastatin in patients with dysbetalipoproteinemia.

Methods: Following a 6-week washout, 32 patients with dysbetalipoproteinemia received rosuvastatin 10 mg, rosuvastatin 20 mg, and pravastatin 40 mg, each for 6 weeks in a randomized, double-blind, three-way crossover design.

Lipid levels after acute coronary syndromes.

Objectives: This analysis from the LUNAR (Limiting UNdertreatment of lipids in ACS with Rosuvastatin) study assessed lipid changes 1 to 4 days after onset of acute coronary syndromes (ACS), before initiation of study treatment.

Background: Early studies indicated that cholesterol levels decrease significantly after ACS. However, most studies were small or did not measure low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) directly, and many used nonfasting or retrospective data.

Comparison of rosuvastatin versus atorvastatin in South-Asian patients at risk of coronary heart disease (from the IRIS Trial).

In a large randomized trial of statin therapy in patients of South-Asian origin with hypercholesterolemia, 740 patients in the United States and Canada received 6 weeks of treatment with rosuvastatin 10 or 20 mg or atorvastatin 10 or 20 mg. A total of 485 patients (66%) were categorized as being at high risk of coronary heart disease and had a National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III treatment goal of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol <100 mg/dl (<2.6 mmol/L).

Comparison of rosuvastatin versus atorvastatin in Hispanic-Americans with hypercholesterolemia (from the STARSHIP trial).

In a multicenter, open-label trial, 696 Hispanic patients with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels > or =130 and < or =300 mg/dl and triglyceride levels <400 mg/dl at medium or high risk of coronary heart disease were randomized to receive 10 or 20 mg of rosuvastatin or 10 or 20 mg of atorvastatin for 6 weeks. At week 6, LDL cholesterol was decreased more by 10 mg of rosuvastatin than by 10 mg of atorvastatin (45% vs 36%, p <0.0001) and more by 20 mg of rosuvastatin than by 20 mg of atorvastatin (50% vs 42%, p <0.

Comparison of efficacy and safety of rosuvastatin versus atorvastatin in African-American patients in a six-week trial.

The lipid-modifying effects of statin therapy in hypercholesterolemic African-Americans have not been well characterized. This study compared the efficacy and safety of rosuvastatin and atorvastatin treatment for 6 weeks in hypercholesterolemic African-American adults. In the African American Rosuvastatin Investigation of Efficacy and Safety (ARIES) trial (4522US/0002), 774 adult African-Americans with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol > or = 160 and < or = 300 mg/dl and triglycerides < 400 mg/dl were randomized to receive open-label rosuvastatin 10 or 20 mg or atorvastatin 10 or 20 mg for 6 weeks.