Gamma-glutamyl transferase and cardiovascular events in patients with congenital heart disease.

Introduction: Serum gamma-glutamyl transferase activity (GGT) seems to predict cardiovascular events in different populations. However, no data exist on patients with congenital heart disease (CHD).

Methods: Observational, analytic, prospective cohort study design involving CHD patients and a control population to determine the effect of GGT levels on survival.

Association between red blood cell distribution width and mortality of COVID-19 patients.

Purpose: We have previously reported an association between high red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and mortality in septic and brain infarction patients. However, no association between RDW and mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients has been reported so far; thus, the objective of this study was to determine if that association exists.

Methods: Prospective and observational study carried out in 8 Intensive Care Units from 6 hospitals of Canary Islands (Spain) including COVID-19 patients.

Red blood cell distribution width in addition to N-terminal prohormone of B-type natriuretic peptide concentration improves assessment of risk of cardiovascular events in adult patients with congenital heart disease.

Background: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a predictor of adverse outcomes in patients with heart disease.

Aim: To establish predictors of high RDW values in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD), and their relationship with cardiovascular events.

Methods: Overall, 561 patients with stable CHD who attended a single outpatient clinic and a matched control population of 2128 patients were studied.

Mean platelet volume and major adverse cardiovascular events in congenital heart disease patients.

Background: Platelet activation is linked with thrombosis, inflammation or heart failure.

Objective: To establish clinical and analytical factors that may favor high mean platelet volume (MPV) and to determine if MPV levels favor major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE).

Methods: Stable CHD patients and a control population matched for age, sex and cardiovascular factors.

Risk factors for hyperuricemia in congenital heart disease patients and its relation to cardiovascular death.

Introduction: Hyperuricemia has been associated with cardiovascular risk factors but it remains controversial if uric acid is an independent predictor of cardiac mortality.

Methods: A total of 503 CHD patients (457 nonhypoxemic and 46 hypoxemic) and 772 control patients fulfilled inclusion criteria. Demographic, clinical, and analytical data [serum uric acid and 24h urine uric acid levels, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP), and C-reactive-protein (CRP) concentrations] were studied.

Serum Malondialdehyde Levels and Mortality in Patients with Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

Objective: Oxidative stress has been associated with secondary brain injury after spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (SIH). Malondialdehyde (MDA) appears in blood during lipid oxidation. Higher serum MDA levels have been found in patients with SIH than in healthy controls; however, we have not found data indicating an association between elevated serum MDA and early mortality in this population.

Serum Levels of Substance P and Mortality in Patients with a Severe Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Substance P (SP), a member of tachykinin family, is involved in the inflammation of the central nervous system and in the appearance of cerebral edema. Higher serum levels of SP have been found in 18 patients with cerebral ischemia compared with healthy controls. The aim of our multi-center study was to analyze the possible association between serum levels of SP and mortality in ischemic stroke patients.

Serum caspase-3 levels and mortality are associated in patients with severe traumatic brain injury.

Background: Different apoptosis pathways activate caspase-3. In a study involving 27 patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), higher caspase-3 levels were found in contusion brain tissue resected from non-survivors than from survivors. The objective of this study was to determine whether there is an association in TBI patients between serum caspase-3 levels (thus using an easier, quicker, less expensive and less invasive procedure) and mortality, in a larger series of patients.

Total antioxidant capacity is associated with mortality of patients with severe traumatic brain injury.

Background: Previously, circulating total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients has been scarcely studied and only in studies of small sample size (lower than 55 TBI patients). In one study were found higher serum TAC in non-survivor than in survivor TBI patients; however, an association between circulating TAC and mortality in patients with TBI has not been previously reported. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine whether there is an association between circulating TAC, peroxidation state and mortality in patients with severe TBI.

Serum malondialdehyde levels in patients with malignant middle cerebral artery infarction are associated with mortality.

Objective: Malondialdehyde (MDA) is an end-product formed during lipid peroxidation, due to degradation of cellular membrane phospholipids. MDA is released into extracellular space and finally into the blood; it has been used as an effective biomarker of lipid oxidation. High circulating levels of MDA have been previously described in patients with ischemic stoke than in controls, and an association between circulating MDA levels and neurological functional outcome in patients with ischemic stoke.

Serum glucose and lipid levels in adult congenital heart disease patients.

Atherosclerosis has been correlated with known cardiovascular risk factors such as serum glucose or lipid levels. Because congenital heart disease patients tend to survive until adulthood, atherosclerosis has also become a matter of concern in these patients. One hundred fifty-eight congenital heart disease patients and 152 patients selected at random from the population were studied and compared to determine serum glucose, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides levels.