Association of systemic inflammation with posttraumatic stress disorder after a myocardial infarction.

Background: Adverse mental health conditions including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anxiety are prevalent among patients who survive myocardial infarctions (MI) and are associated with adverse outcomes. The mechanisms underlying these associations, however, are not well understood. Inflammatory pathways may mediate the cardiovascular outcomes of patients with mental health disorders.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, combat exposure, and carotid intima-media thickness in male twins.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with an increased risk of ischemic heart disease, though the pathophysiologic mechanisms remain unclear. Carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) is a measure of subclinical atherosclerosis. We examined whether PTSD and combat exposure were associated with CIMT in Vietnam War-era twins after controlling for shared genetic and childhood factors.

Effect of meditation on endothelial function in Black Americans with metabolic syndrome: a randomized trial.

Objectives: Psychological stress may play a role in metabolic syndrome. A consequence of metabolic syndrome is endothelial dysfunction, which is also influenced by psychological stress. We sought to compare the effect of consciously resting meditation (CRM), a sound based meditation, with a control intervention of health education (HE) on endothelial function in the setting of metabolic syndrome.

Body mass index, leptin, and ambulatory blood pressure variability in healthy adults.

Objective: To investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) variability, and to assess whether leptin might act as a mediator of this association.

Methods: A cross-sectional study in healthy, normotensive men and women (n = 156). BMI was derived from direct height and weight measurements made on each participant.

Relationship of self-reported alcohol consumption to ambulatory blood pressure in a sample of healthy adults.

Background: Habitual alcohol consumption has shown positive associations with office blood pressure (BP). Less well established, however, is alcohol consumption's relationship to various measures of ambulatory BP (ABP) in healthy, normotensive persons.

Methods: We investigated alcohol consumption's relationship to mean ABP, ABP variability, and the ABP arterial stiffness index in a sample of nonsmoking adults who were free of hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD; n = 157).

Common genes contribute to depressive symptoms and heart rate variability: the Twins Heart Study.

Depression and reduced heart rate variability (HRV) are predictors of coronary artery disease (CAD), and highly correlated with each other. However, little is known to what extend this correlation can be explained by common genetic components. We examined 198 middle-aged male twins (121 monozygotic and 77 dizygotic) from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry.

Major depression and coronary flow reserve detected by positron emission tomography.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with coronary heart disease (CHD), but the mechanisms are unclear. The presence of MDD may increase CHD risk by affecting microvascular circulation. It is also plausible that genetic factors influencing MDD may overlap with those for CHD.

Common genetic contributions to depressive symptoms and inflammatory markers in middle-aged men: the Twins Heart Study.

Objective: To examine the extent to which a common genetic pathway is also involved in the relationship between depressive symptoms, in the absence of major depressive disorder (MDD), and inflammation. Recent data suggested that MDD and inflammation share common genes.

Methods: We recruited 188 male twins from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry who were free of symptomatic coronary artery disease and MDD, with mean +/- standard deviation (SD) age of 55 +/- 2.

Depressive symptoms and heart rate variability: evidence for a shared genetic substrate in a study of twins.

Objective: To clarify the relationship between depression and heart rate variability (HRV) in a sample of twins. Reduced HRV, a measure of autonomic dysfunction, has been linked to depression but many studies have inadequately controlled for familial and environmental factors. Furthermore, little is known about whether depression and HRV share common genetic pathways.

Depressive symptoms and metabolic syndrome: is inflammation the underlying link?

Background: Behavioral alterations, including depression, are frequent in individuals with the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Recent findings suggest that chronic activation of innate immunity might be involved. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between MetS and depressive symptoms and to elucidate the involvement of inflammation in this relationship.

Association of major depressive disorder with serum myeloperoxidase and other markers of inflammation: a twin study.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been linked to inflammation, but this association may be due to common precursors to both depression and inflammation. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is an inflammatory enzyme produced by activated leukocytes that predicts risk of coronary heart disease. We sought to examine whether MPO and other markers of inflammation are associated with MDD and whether the association is confounded by genetic or other shared familial factors.

Genetic and environmental influences on systemic markers of inflammation in middle-aged male twins.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to determine the relative influence of genetic and environmental contributions to inflammatory biomarkers, and to what extent correlations among these markers are due to genetic or environmental factors.

Methods: We performed univariate and multivariate genetic analyses of four inflammatory markers: interleukin-6 (IL-6), soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R), C-reactive protein (CRP), and fibrinogen, in 166 (88 monozygotic and 78 dizygotic) middle-aged male twin pairs.

Results: The mean age (+/-S.

Adherence to the mediterranean diet is inversely associated with circulating interleukin-6 among middle-aged men: a twin study.

Background: The Mediterranean diet is protective against cardiovascular disease; a proposed mechanism is through a reduction in systemic inflammation. It is unknown to what extent the association between the Mediterranean diet and inflammation is due to genetic or other familial factors.

Methods And Results: We administered the Willett food frequency questionnaire to 345 middle-aged male twins and assessed adherence to the Mediterranean diet using a published adherence score.

Reduced 6-month resource use and costs associated with cilostazol in patients after successful coronary stent implantation: results from the Cilostazol for RESTenosis (CREST) trial.

Background: The CREST trial demonstrated that after successful coronary stent implantation, the 6-month rate of target vessel revascularization (TVR) was similar (15.4% vs 16%, P = .90) for the 2 treatment groups, but restenosis rate was lower (22.

Relation of C-reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor-alpha to ambulatory blood pressure variability in healthy adults.

Elevated blood pressure (BP) variability has been linked to an increased risk for adverse cardiovascular events, but the biologic factors that promote elevated BP variability are not entirely understood. This cross-sectional study examined whether inflammatory factors might be associated with elevated BP variability during 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring. Subjects were 140 healthy, normotensive adults.