Publications by authors named "Kevin Dobretz"

Hypertensive patients are frequently affected by erectile dysfunction (20-25%). This is often a manifestation of atherosclerosis, a systemic disease that itself requires management. Dietary measures and physical activity are beneficial for these patients.

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Three main methods of blood pressure (BP) measurement are routinely used: office-based BP measures (OBPM), 24-hour ambulatory BP measures (ABPM), and home BP measures (HBPM). OBPM can lack precision, ABPM gives exhaustive information but is not comfortable, HBPM requires a device at home and the result is not immediate. The automated (unattended) office blood pressure measurement (AOBP) is a more recent method, simple to implement in the physician's office, permitting to largely avoid the white coat effect.

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Introduction: Depression frequently affects patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). When these conditions co-occur, outcomes such as quality of life and life expectancy worsen. In everyday practice, this specific and prevalent disease-disease interaction complicates patient management.

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The latest ESC recommendations propose several interesting new concepts for the practitioner. The recommendations distinguish between the «apparently healthy» patient and the patient at specific cardiovascular risk (diabetes, renal failure, and familial hypercholesterolemia). New risk calculation tools are proposed (SCORE2 and SCORE2-OP).

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Background: Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is an LDL-like molecule that is likely causal for cardiovascular events and Lp(a) variability has been shown to be mostly of genetic origin. Exogenous hormones (hormone replacement therapy) seem to influence Lp(a) levels, but the impact of endogenous hormone levels on Lp(a) is still unknown. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of endogenous steroid hormone metabolites on Lp(a).

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Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is responsible for the degradation of the LDL-receptor. Inclisiran is a new synthetic interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) lowers LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in the blood by using RNA silencing technology to reduce the production of PCSK9. Inclisiran administered subcutaneously at 0 and 3 months, and then every 6 months has been shown to reduce LDL-C by approximately 50 % in patients at high and very-high cardiovascular risk, or with a diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia, but also in patients intolerant to statins.

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Decapitated Hydra regenerate their heads via morphallaxis, i.e., without significant contributions made by cell proliferation or interstitial stem cells.

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In hydra, the endodermal epithelial cells carry out the digestive function together with the gland cells that produce zymogens and express the evolutionarily conserved gene Kazal1. To assess the hydra Kazal1 function, we silenced gene expression through double-stranded RNA feeding. A progressive Kazal1 silencing affected homeostatic conditions as evidenced by the low budding rate and the induced animal death.

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