Demographic and cardiovascular risk factors in relation to antioxidant status: the EVA Study.

The aim of the study was to examine the determinants of blood antioxidant indicators on a large sample. Levels of plasma selenium and carotenoids, vitamin E in red blood cells, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were determined. The cross-sectional relationships between these markers and demographic and cardiovascular risk factors were examined in participants of the EVA study, a cohort of 1389 men and women, aged 59-71 years.

Lipid peroxidation level and antioxidant micronutrient status in a pre-aging population; correlation with chronic disease prevalence in a French epidemiological study (Nantes, France).

Objective: The general objective of the Etude du Viellissement Arterial (EVA) program is to follow vascular aging and the decline in cognitive functions at the cerebrovascular level longitudinally over a 4-year period. One of the specific objectives of this EVA study is to examine epidemiologically the relationship between the markers of oxidative stress (lipid peroxidation), the antioxidant micronutrient status (particularly of selenium, vitamin E, and the carotenoids) and the prevalence of chronic disorders occurring during the pre-aging period.

Methods: 1389 subjects aged from 59 to 71 years were studied.

Lipoprotein (a) phenotype distribution in a population of bypass patients and its influence on lipoprotein (a) concentration.

A case control study was undertaken to compare the distribution of apolipoprotein (a) phenotypes in patients suffering from atherosclerosis and undergoing coronary bypass surgery with the distribution observed in adequately selected controls. Cases differed from controls for triglycerides (1.90 +/- 0.

Relation of intima-media thickness to atherosclerotic plaques in carotid arteries. The Vascular Aging (EVA) Study.

This study examined the relation between arterial wall thickness and local atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries (CAs) and their specific risk factors. B-mode ultrasonography of the CAs was performed in a cohort of 516 men and 756 women aged 59 to 71 years who had been recruited for the European Vascular Aging Study. Ultrasound examination included measurement of intima-media thickness of the common CA (CCA) and the sites of plaque in the internal CA and bifurcations.

[HDL-cholesterol or apolipoprotein AI: which parameter to choose?].

The French Consensus for cholesterol, established by ARCOL in 1989, recommends the use of HDL-cholesterol and apolipoprotein AI as additional parameters. The present study was undertaken to establish the correlation between these two parameters and to determine the limit value for apolipoprotein AI, based on the recommended limit of 0.90 mmol/L for HDL-cholesterol established by ARCOL.

Comparative study of risk factors in patients undergoing coronary or femoropopliteal artery bypass grafting.

Objective: To compare risk factors in two populations of patients with advanced atheroma requiring coronary or femoropopliteal artery bypass grafting to try to account for the different localisations of vascular disease.

Design: Cross sectional epidemiological study.

Setting: Cardiovascular surgery department of a university hospital.

[Serum myoglobin: evaluation of two immunolatex methods. Comparison with a radioimmunoassay method].

Latex immunoturbidimetric (ITA) and immunonephelemetric (INA) assays, were evaluated and compared to a radioimmunological assay (RIA) for the determination of serum myoglobin. Within-run and between-run assays and accuracy and linearity studies gave satisfactory results, very similar to those of RIA. Results were closely correlated with those of RIA for 100 samples of up to 2,000 micrograms/l (correlation coefficients respectively 0.

Study of lipoprotein particles LpAI and LpAI:AII in patients before coronary bypass surgery.

Lipids, apolipoproteins, and LpAI and LpAI:AII particles were studied in 43 men (mean age 51, SD 7, years) 24 h before their coronary bypass surgery and in 54 control men (mean age 46 SD 9, years). LpAI and LpAI:AII were analyzed by electroimmunodiffusion and by a noncompetitive enzyme-linked immunoassay, respectively. Concentrations of LpAI and LpAI:AII in the bypass patients were significantly lower (P less than 0.

Logistic discriminant analysis of lipids and apolipoproteins in a population of coronary bypass patients and the significance of apolipoproteins C-III and E.

The lipid and apolipoprotein states of 74 men (mean age 49.96 +/- 5.9 years) were studied 24 h before coronary bypass surgery and their results were compared with those of a control group of 78 men (mean age 48.

[Use of 6 serum pools in standardization of the determination of apolipoproteins AI and B in the human serum].

The proliferation of commercial immunoassays for the determination of apolipoproteins AI and B as parameters of risk for coronary heart disease and the discordance between the values obtained with the systems have made more urgent than ever the need for standardization of these assays. The authors report here the results of a collaborative study on the standardization of the values between the "Comité Française de Coordination des Recherches sur l'Athérosclérose et le Cholestérol (ARCOL)" and 13 Companies providing 15 different analytical systems. The results show that standardized measurements are not possible using a "consensus international standard" and that the major problem is related to the enormous variability of the analytical systems.

[Lipid evaluation in cerebral infarction in its early phase and in the 4th month. Practical consequences].

Plasma lipid values studied in 30 subjects with stroke at days 1, 2 and 4 of the early phase indicated a significant decrease in total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and apolipoprotein A1 from day 1 to 4. However, there was no significant difference between values at day 1 and during the 4th month of convalescence. Since some patients admitted to hospital are never followed up later in a hospital environment, it would seem advisable, for practical purposes, to perform plasma lipid analysis on the first day of admission.

Variations in lipoproteins, hormones and blood glucose during the early acute phase of myocardial infarction.

This study reports on 22 patients (18 men, 4 women), 45-83-year-old admitted to hospital less than 24 h after the first clinical signs of myocardial infarction. Lipids, lipoproteins, serum insulin and growth hormone, urinary cortisol and vanillylmandelic acid and blood glucose were analysed on the day of admission (day 1) and on days 2, 4 and 8 of the acute phase. Results for lipoproteins generally confirm those of earlier studies: lowered total cholesterol (day 1-8), LDL-cholesterol (day 1-2), HDL-cholesterol (day 2-8), LDL apo B (day 1-2) and apo A-1 (day 1-8).

Variations in the composition of low- and high-density lipoproteins during the acute phase of myocardial infarction.

We analyzed correlations between apolipoprotein B (apo B), cholesterol and phospholipids (preponderant lipids) in low-density lipoproteins (LDL) as well as between apolipoprotein A1 (apo A1) and these same lipids in high-density lipoproteins (HDL), during the acute phase of myocardial infarction. In LDL, a very elevated and stable correlation (r) was observed between these parameters, and the coefficients of regression (b) did not differ significantly during the period studied. In HDL, there was a decrease in r and b values from day 1 to day 2, then an increase after day 2.

Are 'precipitated LDL' really low density lipoproteins?

Cholesterol, phospholipid and Apo B levels were determined in low density lipoproteins (LDL) precipitated by amphipathic polymers (Biomérieux kit, Marcy-l'Etoile, France) and compared to those of ultracentrifuged LDL. For 113 sera (triglyceride level less than 4.5 mmol/l, absence of very low density lipoproteins-remnants) LDL-cholesterol values were significantly higher (p less than 0.

[Cholesterol, phospholipid and apoB composition of LDL: comparison of precipitation and ultracentrifugation methods].

Cholesterol, phospholipid and apoB levels were determined in LDL precipitated by amphiphatic polymers (Biomérieux kit, Marcy-l'Etoile, France). Intra-assay and inter-assay analysis performed on 4 serum pools were satisfactory. For 113 sera (triglyceride level less than 4.

Study of a myoglobin test in patients hospitalized for suspected myocardial infarction.

An immunoagglutination latex test was studied in comparison with a plasma myoglobin radioimmunoassay in 103 subjects with suspected myocardial infarction. The test provided an early and reliable indication of raised plasma myoglobin (greater than 85 micrograms/l), a biochemical marker for the early phase (12 h) of myocardial infarction. The diagnostic values (sensitivity and specificity) studied over a 36 h period were the same as those for the plasma myoglobin assay.

[Blood and plasma hyperviscosity in primary hyperlipidemia].

Plasma and blood viscosities were studied in 15 hyperlipidemic (HLP) patients and in 10 healthy volunteers. Viscosities were measured at 25 degrees C using a couette type viscosimeter. Plasma and blood viscosities were significantly increased in HLP patients.