Atherosclerotic Plaque Progression and Incident Cardiovascular Events in a 10-Year Prospective Study of Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: The Impact of Persistent Cardiovascular Risk Factor Target Attainment and Sustained DORIS Remission.

Objective: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We assessed atherosclerotic plaque progression and incident cardiovascular events in patients with SLE over a 10-year follow-up.

Methods: We prospectively analyzed 738 carotid ultrasound measurements (413 in patients with SLE and 325 in age/sex-matched healthy controls [HCs]) to assess new plaque development from baseline to 3-, 7-, and 10-year follow-up.

Outcomes of COVID-19 re-infections: a single-center cohort of 167 patients with systemic rheumatic diseases.

Data on COVID-19 re-infections in patients with systemic rheumatic diseases (SRDs) are lacking. We aimed to describe the course and outcomes of COVID-19 re-infections in these patients versus controls. In this single-center retrospective study, we included 167 consecutive SRD patients with at least one COVID-19 re-infection (mean age 47.

The impact of traditional cardiovascular risk factor control on 7-year follow-up atherosclerosis progression in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objectives: The 2022 EULAR recommendations for cardiovascular risk management in patients with rheumatic disorders, including SLE, call for rigorous management of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF). The impact of CVRF target attainment on atherosclerotic plaque progression hasn't been previously evaluated in prospective ultrasound studies.

Methods: A total of 115 patients with SLE and 1:1 age and sex-matched healthy controls who had a baseline carotid and femoral ultrasound examination in our cardiovascular research unit were invited for a 7-year follow-up assessment of new plaque development.

Abdominal aorta aneurysm endograft infection mimicking bacteraemic urinary tract infection.

Background: Endograft infection complicating endovascular aneurysm repairs is infrequent and presents various symptoms and findings, the most common being abdominal pain, fever, fatigue, and gastrointestinal bleeding.

Description Of The Case: Α 75-year-old male patient with endovascular graft infection presented with a three-day history of fever and was initially misdiagnosed as a bacteremic urinary tract infection. Due to high surgical risk, a drainage tube was placed, and the patient was treated with intravenous antibiotics for three weeks and then with oral antibiotics for two months.

Increased cardiovascular and renal disease but not reduced life expectancy among diabetic participants in the general Northern Greek population.

We compared life expectancy and causes of death based on death certificates of 269 diabetic participants (group A) and 5659 nondiabetic participants (group B) who died from January 1, 1991 to December 31, 2010, in 3 small towns of Northern Greece. Age at death was significantly (P = .011) higher in group A (77.

Circulating plasma vascular endothelial growth factor and microvascular complications of type 1 diabetes mellitus: the influence of ACE inhibition.

Aims: To determine whether circulating plasma vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is elevated in the presence of diabetic microvascular complications, and whether the impact of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors on these complications can be accounted for by changes in circulating VEGF.

Methods: Samples (299/354 of those with retinal photographs) from the EUCLID placebo-controlled clinical trial of the ACE inhibitor lisinopril in mainly normoalbuminuric non-hypertensive Type 1 diabetic patients were used. Albumin excretion rate (AER) was measured 6 monthly.

Determinants of exercise-induced ST segment depression in patients with coronary artery disease: a multivariate approach.

The purpose of this study was to delineate among the usually gathered parameters in an electrocardiographic exercise test the determinants of its positive outcome (delta ST decreases > or = 1 mm measured at 80 msec from the J point). The authors studied 832 patients investigated with Bruce's exercise testing and with diagnostic coronary arteriography, all of whom were shown to have significant coronary artery disease (diameter stenosis > or = 50%). Twenty-five demographic, clinical, electrocardiographic, exercise, and anatomic/hemodynamic parameters were analyzed.

Haemoglobin O Arab in the Pomak population of Thrace.

A 21 year old woman from Thrace with clinical and laboratory findings of mild hemolysis, was found to be homozygous for haemoglobin O Arab. Blood samples from 15 members of her family and from 42 inhabitants of her village were examined for the presence of Hb O Arab. A high incidence of this variant allele was also detected among the patient's family members as well as in other inhabitants of the village (p = 0.

Epidemiology of diabetes mellitus in the elderly in northern Greece: a population study.

This population based study was undertaken to ascertain the overall prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in the elderly using the WHO criteria. The role of obesity in the development of DM or IGT has been investigated for both sexes per decade of age. Furthermore the potential for DM to increase with age, as has been suggested before, has been evaluated using the IGT as a proportion of total glucose intolerance (IGT/TGI) for the same parts of the tested sample.

Comparison of respiratory response of jogging in place and Bruce treadmill exercise test.

A comparison of the respiratory responses of jogging in place, an alternative exercise test we recently proposed, was made with those of the Bruce exercise test. We obtained on-line measurements of heart rate, ventilation, oxygen uptake, and carbon dioxide production from 9 healthy subjects of mean age 25 years. There was a higher heart rate and ventilatory response with jogging than with the Bruce test, but by 10 minutes the responses of the two tests were similar.

Post-exercise response of the systolic blood pressure in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease: comparison of two exercise methods.

We studied 81 angiographically documented coronary artery disease patients and 28 with normal coronary arteries, having paired exercise tests (the Bruce treadmill protocol and the jogging in place test) in order to investigate the value of the ratio of recovery systolic blood pressure to peak exercise systolic blood pressure (postexercise pressure ratio) compared to the classic ST depression. The postexercise pressure ratio was significantly higher in patients with coronary artery disease than in patients with normal coronary arteries for each of the 2 exercise tests (P less than 0.001--P less than 0.

Jogging in place. Evaluation of a simplified exercise test.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate jogging in place as an electrocardiographic exercise test. Jogging in place continuously recorded via an ordinary single-channel electrocardiograph was compared with the Bruce treadmill protocol with a three-channel monitor and recorder in 141 cases with a wide spectrum of chest complaints. Agreement for the presence or absence of electrocardiographic ischemia (ST-segment displacement greater than or equal to 1 mm at 80 ms from the J point, or U-wave inversion) for the two tests was observed in 91 percent of the cases (95 percent confidence intervals: 86 percent to 95.

[Number of basophils and triglyceride levels in patients with gout].

Comparing a group of gouty patients with age and sex matched group of patients in a general medical ward without history of arthritis, we failed to confirm and increase in the absolute or relative basophil count. Total white cell count and packed cell volume were similar in both groups of patients. However, fasting serum triglyceride and serum uric acid were increased, as expected, in the gouty group.

Electrocardiographic criteria of left ventricular hypertrophy in left bundle-branch block.

In order to determine whether the electrocardiographic criteria of left ventricular hypertrophy apply in the presence of left bundle-branch block we studied 79 cases of intermittent left bundle-branch block and compared the QRS voltage and axis before and after its onset. Cases of incomplete left bundle-branch block were excluded. There was a statistically significant correlation between pre- and post-left bundle-branch block values of R or S wave voltage in leads I, V1, V2, V5, and V6, the Sokolow index (R V5 or V6 + S V1), and the QRS axis.