Cost-effectiveness analysis of cardiovascular risk factor screening in women who experienced hypertensive pregnancy disorders at term.

Objectives: To assess the cost-effectiveness of post-partum screening on cardiovascular risk factors and subsequent treatment in women with a history of gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia at term.

Study Design: Two separate Markov models evaluated the cost-effectiveness analysis of hypertension (HT) screening and screening on metabolic syndrome (MetS), respectively, as compared to current practice in women with a history of term hypertensive pregnancy disorders. Analyses were performed from the Dutch health care perspective, using a lifetime horizon.

Prevention of cardiovascular risk in women who had hypertension during pregnancy after 36 weeks gestation.

Objective: To analyse preventive interventions of women with cardiovascular risk factors postpartum.

Methods: 3.5 years postpartum, women with history of hypertension in pregnancy were invited for a questionnaire, 1 year after a cardiovascular risk assessment.

Inflammation increases plasma angiopoietin-like protein 4 in patients with the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

Background: Angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4) inhibits lipoprotein lipase and associates with dyslipidemia. The expression of ANGPTL4 is regulated by free fatty acids (FFA) that activate lipid-sensing peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), but FFA can also activate pattern recognition receptors including Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in macrophages.

Objective: To assess whether systemic low-grade inflammation is a determinant for plasma ANGPTL4 levels in patients with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Peripheral cannabinoid 1 receptor blockade activates brown adipose tissue and diminishes dyslipidemia and obesity.

The endocannabinoid system is an important player in energy metabolism by regulating appetite, lipolysis, and energy expenditure. Chronic blockade of the cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R) leads to long-term maintenance of weight loss and reduction of dyslipidemia in experimental and human obesity. The molecular mechanism by which CB1R blockade reverses dyslipidemia in obesity has not yet been clarified.

Brown adipose tissue volume in healthy lean south Asian adults compared with white Caucasians: a prospective, case-controlled observational study.

Background: Individuals of south Asian origin have a very high risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with white Caucasians. We aimed to assess volume and activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT), which is thought to have a role in energy metabolism by combusting fatty acids and glucose to produce heat and might contribute to the difference in incidence of type 2 diabetes between ethnic groups.

Methods: We enrolled Dutch nationals with south Asian ancestry and matched Caucasian participants at The Rijnland Hospital (Leiderdorp, Netherlands).

Association of lung function measurements and visceral fat in men with metabolic syndrome.

Background: Several studies have reported a positive relationship between lung function impairment and the metabolic syndrome. This is most usually explained by abdominal adiposity. We hypothesized that the main determinant of the association between lung function impairment and abdominal obesity is the presence of visceral fat.

BMP7 activates brown adipose tissue and reduces diet-induced obesity only at subthermoneutrality.

Background/aims: Brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy stored in triglycerides as heat via the uncoupling protein UCP-1 and is a promising target to combat hyperlipidemia and obesity. BAT is densely innervated by the sympathetic nervous system, which increases BAT differentiation and activity upon cold exposure. Recently, Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7 (BMP7) was identified as an inducer of BAT differentiation.

Induction of labour or expectant monitoring in hypertensive pregnancy disorders at term: do women's postpartum cardiovascular risk factors differ between the two strategies?

Objective: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women in the western world. Several studies have described the association between hypertensive pregnancy disorders and CVD in later life. Our aim was to compare postpartum cardiovascular risk factors in women who had a shorter and women who had a longer exposure to endothelial activation during their term hypertensive pregnancy.

Cardiovascular risk estimation in women with a history of hypertensive pregnancy disorders at term: a longitudinal follow-up study.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is associated with major morbidity and mortality in women in the Western world. Prediction of an individual cardiovascular disease risk in young women is difficult. It is known that women with hypertensive pregnancy complications have an increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease in later life and pregnancy might be used as a cardiovascular stress test to identify women who are at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

Overexpression of angiopoietin-like protein 4 protects against atherosclerosis development.

Objective: Macrophage foam cells play a crucial role in several pathologies including multiple sclerosis, glomerulosclerosis, and atherosclerosis. Angiopoietin-like protein 4 (Angptl4) was previously shown to inhibit chyle-induced foam cell formation in mesenteric lymph nodes. Here we characterized the regulation of Angptl4 expression in macrophages and examined the impact of Angptl4 on atherosclerosis development.

Cardiovascular risk factors in women who had hypertensive disorders late in pregnancy: a cohort study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine cardiovascular risk factors in women with a history of hypertensive pregnancy disorders at term (HTP) 2.5 years after pregnancy.

Study Design: In a multicenter cohort study in The Netherlands from June 2008 through November 2010, cardiovascular risk factors were compared between women with a history of HTP (HTP cohort, n = 306) and women with a history of normotensive pregnancies at term (NTP cohort, n = 99).

Relationship between carotid intima media thickness and helminth infections on Flores Island, Indonesia.

Objective: To examine the association between helminth infections and atherosclerosis.

Background: Chronic helminth infection, which can lead to poor nutritional status and anti-inflammatory response, might protect against the development of atherosclerosis.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in Flores, Indonesia, an area highly endemic for soil-transmitted helminths (STH).

Site-specific coupling between vascular wall thickness and function: an observational MRI study of vessel wall thickening and stiffening in hypertension.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate associations between aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) and aortic and carotid vessel wall thickness (VWT) using cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with hypertension as compared with healthy adult volunteers.

Materials And Methods: Local medical ethics approval was obtained and the participants gave informed consent. Fifteen patients with hypertension (5 men and 10 women; mean [SD] age, 49 [14] years) and 15 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were prospectively included and compared.

Biochemical cardiovascular risk factors after hypertensive pregnancy disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Unlabelled: The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies assessing biochemical cardiovascular risk factors in women with previous hypertensive pregnancy disorders and women with previous normotensive pregnancies. Data were collected from PubMed and EMBASE (from inception to February 28, 2011) supplemented by manual searches of bibliographies. Included were cohort studies and case-control studies assessing biochemical cardiovascular risk factors in women with previous hypertensive pregnancy disorders compared with women with previous normotensive pregnancies.

Angiogenic factors in women ten years after severe very early onset preeclampsia.

Background: Women with a history of mainly severe and early onset preeclampsia have an increased risk of future cardiovascular disease. During these complicated pregnancies increased levels of anti-angiogenic factors can be found. We hypothesize that women with a history of severe very early onset preeclampsia still have increased levels of these biomarkers years after this pregnancy, resulting in increased risk for cardiovascular disease.

E-selectin is elevated in cord blood of South Asian neonates compared with Caucasian neonates.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that the increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease in South Asian subjects could be caused by the presence of endothelial dysfunction in early life. We studied markers of endothelial dysfunction in umbilical cord blood of South Asian neonates and compared these with that of Caucasian control subjects.

Study Design: From South Asian (n = 57) and Caucasian (n = 21) neonates, cord blood was collected and levels of glucose, insulin, lipids, and markers of endothelial dysfunction (E-selectin, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1) and inflammation (C-reactive protein) were measured.

Effect of lifestyle intervention plus rosiglitazone or placebo therapy on left ventricular mass assessed with cardiovascular magnetic resonance in the metabolic syndrome.

Background: To evaluate the effect of lifestyle intervention in conjunction with rosiglitazone or placebo therapy on left ventricular (LV) mass, using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in the metabolic syndrome.

Methods: The present study was a pre-specified substudy of a double-blind randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of lifestyle intervention in conjunction with rosiglitazone or placebo therapy on carotid artery atherosclerosis in the metabolic syndrome. From this original study population, 10 subjects from the placebo group and 10 from the rosiglitazone group were randomly selected.

Automatic lumen and outer wall segmentation of the carotid artery using deformable three-dimensional models in MR angiography and vessel wall images.

Purpose: To develop and validate an automated segmentation technique for the detection of the lumen and outer wall boundaries in MR vessel wall studies of the common carotid artery.

Materials And Methods: A new segmentation method was developed using a three-dimensional (3D) deformable vessel model requiring only one single user interaction by combining 3D MR angiography (MRA) and 2D vessel wall images. This vessel model is a 3D cylindrical Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) surface which can be deformed to fit the underlying image data.

Blood pressure class and carotid artery intima-media thickness in a population at the secondary epidemiological transition.

Objectives: Data relating blood pressure (BP) class to subclinical organ damage are infrequently reported in populations with a traditional 'nonwestern' lifestyle. As the relevance of BP stratification to cardiovascular prognosis has not been elucidated in these low-income countries at the second epidemiological transition, we aimed to study the effect of BP class on carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) in Flores Island, Indonesia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 476 inhabitants (men/women) of Flores.

Bone morphogenetic protein 7: a broad-spectrum growth factor with multiple target therapeutic potency.

Bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) is a member of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily of growth factors. In recent years, it has become clear that BMP7 is a very pleiotropic growth factor. As described in this review, it plays a pivotal role in the development of bone and kidney, and has only recently been demonstrated to also be crucially involved in differentiation of brown adipose tissue.

Hepatocyte-specific IKKβ expression aggravates atherosclerosis development in APOE*3-Leiden mice.

Objective: The liver is the key organ involved in systemic inflammation, but the relation between hepatic inflammation and atherogenesis is poorly understood. Since nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is a central regulator of inflammatory processes, we hypothesized that chronically enhanced hepatic NF-κB activation, through hepatocyte-specific expression of IκB kinase-β (IKKβ) (LIKK), will aggravate atherosclerosis development in APOE*3-Leiden (E3L) mice.

Methods And Results: E3L.

Neurocognitive function in dopamine-β-hydroxylase deficiency.

Dopamine-β-hydroxylase (DβH) deficiency is a rare genetic syndrome characterized by the complete absence of norepinephrine in the peripheral and the central nervous system. DβH-deficient patients suffer from several physical symptoms, which can be treated successfully with L-threo-3,4-dihydroxyphenylserine, a synthetic precursor of norepinephrine. Informal clinical observations suggest that DβH-deficient patients do not have obvious cognitive impairments, even when they are not medicated, which is remarkable given the important role of norepinephrine in normal neurocognitive function.

Angptl4 protects against severe proinflammatory effects of saturated fat by inhibiting fatty acid uptake into mesenteric lymph node macrophages.

Dietary saturated fat is linked to numerous chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease. Here we study the role of the lipoprotein lipase inhibitor Angptl4 in the response to dietary saturated fat. Strikingly, in mice lacking Angptl4, saturated fat induces a severe and lethal phenotype characterized by fibrinopurulent peritonitis, ascites, intestinal fibrosis, and cachexia.

10-Year cardiovascular event risks for women who experienced hypertensive disorders in late pregnancy: the HyRAS study.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the cause of death in 32% of women in the Netherlands. Prediction of an individual's risk for cardiovascular disease is difficult, in particular in younger women due to low sensitive and specific tests for these women. 10% to 15% of all pregnancies are complicated by hypertensive disorders, the vast majority of which develop only after 36 weeks of gestation.