Independent association of coronary flow reserve with left ventricular relaxation and filling pressure in arterial hypertension.

Background: It has been recognized that "cross-talk" occurs between coronary flow and left ventricular (LV) function. This study tested the hypothesis that impairment of coronary flow reserve (CFR) in arterial hypertension is associated with LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction, independent of abnormalities in LV geometry.

Methods: We studied 59 newly diagnosed, never-treated hypertensive patients, using transthoracic Doppler echocardiography including pulsed Tissue Doppler of mitral annulus and CFR on left anterior descending artery (low-dose dipyridamole).

Interleukin (IL)-6 and receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB ligand (RANKL) are increased in the serum of a patient with primary pachydermoperiostosis.

Primary pachydermoperiostosis (PDP) is a rare syndrome, characterized by digital clubbing, periostosis, and pachydermia. We have evaluated biochemical bone turnover markers, including components of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and osteoprotegerin/receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB ligand (OPG/RANKL) systems, in an 18-year-old man affected by primary PDP. The acute phase of the disease was characterized in our patient by high serum levels of IL-6 and RANKL.

Interleukin-6 and osteoprotegerin systems in Paget's disease of bone: relationship to risedronate treatment.

Serum concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-6-soluble receptor (sIL-6R), IL-6 gp130-soluble receptor (sgp130), ligand of receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB (RANKL), and osteoprotegerin (OPG) were determined in 42 patients with polyostotic Paget's disease of bone (PDB) and acquired resistance to clodronate (M/F ratio 23:19; mean age 58.5 +/- 9.4 years) in acute phase of disease and after oral risedronate treatment (30 mg/day for 8 weeks).

Association between vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and fasting idiopathic hypercalciuria in recurrent stone-forming patients.

Objectives: To investigate the association between fasting idiopathic hypercalciuria (IHc), defined as IHc in the fasting state associated with normal parathyroid function, and ApaI, BsmI, and FokI polymorphisms of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene in 159 hypercalciuric recurrent stone formers. IHc contributes to the formation of calcium kidney stones in more than one half of reported cases.

Methods: We examined 62 patients with fasting IHc (24 women, mean age 42.