Interobserver reproducibility of the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) for quantifying liver steatosis.

Purpose: This study was conducted to prospectively investigate the interobserver reproducibility of controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) measurements and the relationship among the CAP and body mass index (BMI), gender and age.

Methods: Consecutive subjects were studied using the M+ probe of the FibroScan device (Echosens, Paris, France). Measurements were performed by two raters (rater1 and rater2).

Correlation of the controlled attenuation parameter with indices of liver steatosis in overweight or obese individuals: a pilot study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the clinical relevance of the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) by analyzing the correlations between CAP and indirect indices of liver steatosis in obese or overweight individuals.

Methods: Consecutive participants were prospectively enrolled. BMI, waist circumference, hepatic steatosis index, fatty liver index, percent fat mass and regional fat masses as assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), fat signal fraction as assessed by MRI, and CAP were obtained.

Nephrotic-range proteinuria, the major risk factor for early atherosclerosis in juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: To determine the presence of early carotid atherosclerosis and associated risk factors in patients with juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: The carotid intima-media wall thickness (IMT) was measured by B-mode ultrasound in patients with SLE onset before the age of 16 years and in sex- and age-matched healthy control subjects. Risk factors for atherosclerosis were determined at the time of the ultrasound scan and included traditional cardiovascular and SLE-related risk factors.

Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 and carotid intima-media thickening in patients with newly detected primary hypertension.

Objective: To investigate the correlation between ultrasonographically evaluated intima-media thickness (IMT) of common carotid artery (CCA) and cardiovascular risk factors for subjects with newly detected, uncomplicated and untreated primary hypertension.

Methods: The study population consisted of 200 subjects (123 men and 77 women, aged 46+/-7.5 years).

Protective effects of carvedilol, a vasodilating beta-adrenoceptor blocker, against in vivo low density lipoprotein oxidation in essential hypertension.

Low density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation plays a crucial role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis and is enhanced in patients with essential hypertension. This finding has stimulated a search for antihypertensive drugs with high intrinsic antioxidant properties. We investigated the antihypertensive and antioxidant effects of carvedilol, a new vasodilating beta-adrenoceptor blocking agent in a group of patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension after 4-month treatment.

Effects of systemic treatment with statins on skin barrier function and stratum corneum water-holding capacity.

Background: Topical application of inhibitors of HMGCoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme of cholesterol synthesis, has been shown to induce impairment of barrier function.

Objective: Assessing whether oral administration of statins used for reducing blood levels of cholesterol induces functional changes in stratum corneum barrier.

Materials And Methods: 69 subjects of both sexes under-going treatment for hypercholesterolemia (mean age 48 +/- 11 years) entered the study; 43 had been treated with simvastatin and 11 with pravastatin for 6 months; 15 only on dietary regimen served as controls.

[Oxidation of low-density lipoproteins. Correlation between reduced resistance in vitro and increased oxidation in vivo].

Objectives: The oxidation of low-density lipoproteins has been recently proposed as one of the critical factors in promoting atherogenesis. This process results from the balance between the prooxidant stimuli and the endogenous antioxidants present in LDL and strictly depends on the concentration of oxidizable substrates, namely unsaturated fatty acids.

Methods: Twelve male hypertriglyceridaemic patients were investigated before and after oral supplementation with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and compared with eighteen untreated healthy matched control subjects.

Efficacy and pharmacokinetics of simvastatin in heart transplant recipients.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of simvastatin administered to a group of heart transplant patients receiving triple-drug immunosuppressive therapy. We also assessed the potential pharmacokinetic interaction between simvastatin and cyclosporine by comparing mean plasma concentrations of simvastatin beta-hydroxy acid, the major metabolite of the drug, in a group of heart transplant patients treated with cyclosporine and in a control group of patients who had not received heart transplants. Both groups received long-term (> 6 wk) simvastatin therapy.

[Autoantibodies against oxidised low density lipoproteins in patients with coronary disease].

Objectives: Evidence has been obtained indicating that oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) plays a relevant role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and it has been proposed that, due to the antigenic properties of oxidized LDL, the anti-oxLDL antibody titre could represent a useful index of in vivo LDL oxidation.

Methods: Sixty-nine control subjects and 64 patients scheduled for selective coronary revascularization were investigated before surgery.

Results: The coronary disease patients had a higher level of total plasma cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and a lower level of HDL cholesterol.

Metabolic risk factors in white coat hypertensives.

Metabolic disturbances such as hyperinsulinaemia, dislipoproteinaemia and glucose intolerance are often associated with essential hypertension and markedly affect cardiovascular morbidity in hypertensive patients. In order to shed some light on the prognostic significance of white coat hypertension (raised clinic and normal ambulatory blood pressure), we compared the metabolic profile in a group of white coat and sustained previously untreated hypertensives. We studied 84 newly detected hypertensive patients (49 men, 35 women, 47 +/- 8 years, range 28-59 years).

Enhanced LDL oxidation in uremic patients: an additional mechanism for accelerated atherosclerosis?

Since oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is more atherogenic than native LDL, LDL oxidation was investigated in uremic patients who often develop accelerated atherogenesis. Three groups of uremic patients were studied (10 on predialysis conservative therapy, 11 on repetitive hemodialysis, 13 on peritoneal dialysis) and compared with seventy matched controls. LDL oxidation was evaluated in all patients as: (i) the susceptibility to in vitro oxidation (by measuring the resistance to Cu(++)-induced formation of conjugated dienes), (ii) vitamin E concentration in LDL, and (iii) presence of plasma anti-oxidized LDL antibodies, expressed as the ratio anti-oxLDL/anti-nativeLDL antibodies.

[Effectiveness and tolerability of simvastatin in subjects with primary hypercholesterolemia. Multicenter study].

The efficacy and safety of simvastatin were evaluated in an open multicenter study over a 24-week period. One hundred seventy-two patients (91 men, 81 women) with primary hypercholesterolemia (mostly polygenic) were enrolled in 14 Centers in Northern Italy. The mean age was 55.

Low-density lipoprotein oxidation and antioxidized LDL antibodies in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Due to the potential atherogenic effects of oxidized low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), LDL oxidation was studied in a group of uremic patients on chronic peritoneal dialysis. The results were compared with those obtained in a group of 70 controls, 10 uremic patients on predialytic conservative therapy, and 11 patients on repetitive hemodialysis. LDL oxidation was evaluated in all subjects as the susceptibility to in vitro oxidation (monitoring the resistance to Cu(2+)-induced formation of conjugated dienes, lag-phase minutes) and the presence of plasma antioxidized LDL antibodies, expressed as the ratio anti-ox-LDL/antinative LDL antibodies.

Left ventricular function after reversal of myocardial hypertrophy in systemic hypertension, and response to acute increase of afterload by cold pressor test.

Using digitized M-mode echocardiography, the left ventricular (LV) response to acute increase in blood pressure after regression of myocardial hypertrophy due to an effective antihypertensive treatment was evaluated. Fifteen hypertensive patients with basal LV hypertrophy (LV mass greater than 230 g, and normal LV diastolic diameter) and normal LV mass after 3 to 4 months of treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors were selected for study. Subjects performed a cold pressor test before and after therapy.

Double-blind comparison of perindopril and captopril in hypertension. Effects on left ventricular morphology and function.

Using digitized M-mode echocardiograms, we compared, in a double-blind study, the effects of 4 to 8 mg perindopril given once daily and 25 to 50 mg captopril given twice daily on the left ventricle (LV) in 20 hypertensive patients. Both treatments significantly (P less than .001) lowered blood pressure, reducing systemic vascular resistances.

Transdermal estradiol substitution therapy for the induction of puberty in female hypogonadism.

Fifteen patients aged 14.5-27.3 years (mean +/- SE 18.

Metabolic effects of the combination of captopril and hydrochlorothiazide in hypertensive subjects.

The medium-term (16 weeks) effects of the combination of captopril and hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) on some metabolic indexes, particularly on plasma lipoproteins, were evaluated in 20 mild to moderate hypertensive outpatients. After a 4-week wash-out period, the subjects were given one tablet of a new commercially available fixed combination once/daily (i.e.

[Clinical definition of asymptomatic abdominal masses].

Five patients with asymptomatic abdominal masses (abdominal leiomyosarcoma, giant hydronephrosis, renal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the lung metastatic to the adrenal gland, retroperitoneal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) are reported. Non invasive investigations such as Echography and Computed Tomography, are very advantageous for the quick diagnosis of asymptomatic abdominal masses and for subsequent therapy.

Increase in plasma HDL-cholesterol in hypertensive patients treated with enalapril.

The effects of enalapril on plasma lipoproteins were evaluated in an open study of 12 normolipidemic outpatients with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension (World Health Organization stages I and II). After a two-week washout period, during which placebo was given, the patients received 20 to 40 mg/day of enalapril for 16 weeks. Treatment with enalapril was associated with significant increases in levels of HDL cholesterol (mean, 23%; P less than 0.