Role of L-type Ca-channels in the vasorelaxing response to finerenone in arteries of human visceral adipose tissue.

Inadequate blood supply to the expanding adipose tissue (AT) is involved in the unhealthy AT remodeling and cardiometabolic consequences of obesity. Because of the pathophysiological role of upregulated mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) signaling in the complications of obesity, this study tested the vasoactive properties of finerenone, a nonsteroidal MR antagonist, in arteries of human AT. Arteries isolated from the visceral AT of obese subjects were studied in a wire myograph.

NT-proBNP: a marker of preclinical cardiac damage in arterial hypertension.

Background: The cardiac left ventricle responds to pressure overloads with mechanisms culminating in irreversible structural/functional cardiac alterations (left ventricular hypertrophy and/or diastolic dysfunction), inducing myocardial cells to secrete natriuretic peptides (NT-proBNP) antagonists of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of serum NT-proBNP levels in order to detect structural/functional cardiac diseases assessed by echocardiography.

Methods: A total of 126 consecutive newly diagnosed, never before treated, hypertensive patients (30-67 years) were enrolled, and clinical, echocardiography parameters and biochemical data were collected.

Diastolic function: the influence of pneumoperitoneum and Trendelenburg positioning during laparoscopic hysterectomy.

Background And Objective: Several reports concerning the haemodynamic changes during gynaecologic laparoscopy have been published so far, and the effects of head-down tilt and pneumoperitoneum have not been clearly separated. However, its main effect seems to be an increase in systemic vascular resistance. We investigated how the augmented afterload can affect diastolic function.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha antagonism improves vasodilation during hyperinsulinemia in metabolic syndrome.

Objective: Obesity is associated with chronic inflammation due to overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. We assessed the effects of TNF-alpha neutralization by infliximab on vascular reactivity during hyperinsulinemia in obesity-related metabolic syndrome.

Research Design And Methods: Vascular responses to intra-arterial infusion of acetylcholine (ACh) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) were assessed in patients with metabolic syndrome, before and after administration of infliximab.

Differences between diabetic and non-diabetic hypertensive patients with first acute non-ST elevation myocardial infarction and predictors of in-hospital complications.

Objectives: This investigation was undertaken to compare diabetic and non-diabetic hypertensive patients with a first acute non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and to assess the impact of clinical and laboratory parameters on the occurrence of in-hospital complications.

Methods: The study population comprised 112 consecutive male hypertensive patients with their first NSTEMI, who were divided into two groups according to the presence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. All patients underwent echocardiography and 24-h electrocardiographic (ECG) and blood pressure monitoring within 48 h from admission.

The long-term cardiovascular outcome of different GH-lowering treatments in acromegaly.

The aim of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the echocardiographic outcome of acromegalic heart disease in patients undergoing different therapeutic approaches, in order to investigate whether SSA could provide therapeutic advantages as compared with neurosurgery. In total of 36, consecutive patients undergoing SSA treatment after neurosurgery were enrolled in this study (Gr.Surg.

Selective cardiac neuroadrenergic abnormalities in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy.

Background: Increased sympathetic drive to the heart might contribute to the development and progression of myocardial damage in hypertensive patients (HTs). This study assessed the possible presence of abnormalities in myocardial uptake of (123)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), a marker of sympathetic activity, in HTs with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).

Methods: Eleven HTs with LVH and 10 matched normotensive controls underwent clinical and laboratory examination, as well as LVH determination by echocardiography.

Blood pressure regulation by CCR genes.

New genetic evidence strongly supports a role for the immune system in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension (EH) through chemokines and their receptors (CCR) involvement. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possible relation between CCR2 and CCR5 alleles and blood pressure (BP) levels in hypertensive subjects. In all, 118 essential hypertensive outpatients (male 90, female 28; stage I and II; age 27-54 years; not previously treated with antihypertensive drugs) were selected for the study.

Intravascular tumor necrosis factor alpha blockade reverses endothelial dysfunction in rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have endothelial dysfunction, which may predispose them to the risk of premature atherosclerosis. This study investigated the involvement of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha in the pathophysiologic characteristics of this abnormality by use of the TNF-alpha-neutralizing antibody infliximab.

Methods: Endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilator responses to intra-arterial infusion of increasing doses of acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside, respectively, were assessed by strain-gauge plethysmography in patients (n = 10) with early RA during saline solution infusion and after intra-arterial infusion of infliximab (200 microg/min).

Plasma levels of cell adhesion molecules during hyperinsulinemia and modulation of vasoactive mediators.

Endothelial expression of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) plays an important role in atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is increased in hyperinsulinemic states, but whether insulin per se is proatherogenic remains unclear. To investigate the effects of hyperinsulinemia on CAM expression, plasma levels of ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin were measured before and after forearm infusion of insulin in healthy subjects.

Eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection improves blood pressure values in patients affected by hypertension.

Background: Arterial hypertension is a risk factor for atherosclerosis of whose pathogenesis is unknown. Growing evidence underscores the causative role of endothelial dysfunction. A possible association between Helicobacter pylori infection and cardiovascular and autoimmune disorders has been found.

Association between altered circadian blood pressure profile and cardiac end-organ damage in patients with renovascular hypertension.

Background: Patients with renovascular hypertension (RVH) have a higher degree of cardiovascular end-organ damage compared to patients with essential hypertension (EH). The precise mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, however, have not been fully elucidated. This study investigated the relationship between circadian blood pressure (BP) profile and cardiac involvement in patients with RVH and EH.