Preservation of Smooth Muscle Cell Integrity and Function: A Target for Limiting Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Expansion?

(1) Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a silent, progressive disease with significant mortality from rupture. Whilst screening programmes are now able to detect this pathology early in its development, no therapeutic intervention has yet been identified to halt or retard aortic expansion. The inability to obtain aortic tissue from humans at early stages has created a necessity for laboratory models, yet it is essential to create a timeline of events from EARLY to END stage AAA progression.

Body mass index, estimated glucose disposal rate and vascular complications in type 1 diabetes: Beyond glycated haemoglobin.

Aims: To understand the relationship between insulin resistance (IR), assessed as estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR), and microvascular/macrovascular complications in people with type 1 diabetes.

Materials And Methods: Individuals with a confirmed diagnosis of type 1 diabetes were included in this cross-sectional study. BMI was categorised into normal weight (18.

Metabolic Control in Type 1 Diabetes: Is Adjunctive Therapy the Way Forward?

Despite advances in insulin therapies, patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) have a shorter life span due to hyperglycaemia-induced vascular disease and hypoglycaemic complications secondary to insulin therapy. Restricting therapy for T1DM to insulin replacement is perhaps an over-simplistic approach, and we focus in this work on reviewing the role of adjuvant therapy in this population. Current data suggest that adding metformin to insulin therapy in T1DM temporarily lowers HbA1c and reduces weight and insulin requirements, but this treatment fails to show a longer-term glycaemic benefit.

Progressive Development of Aberrant Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotype in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Disease.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a silent, progressive disease with a high mortality and an increasing prevalence with aging. Smooth muscle cell (SMC) dysfunction contributes to gradual dilatation and eventual rupture of the aorta. Here we studied phenotypic characteristics in SMC cultured from end-stage human AAA (≥5 cm) and cells cultured from a porcine carotid artery (PCA) model of early and end-stage aneurysm.

Traumatic pseudoaneurysms of the superficial temporal artery.

Persistent scalp swelling following blunt head injury may be the presenting feature of a pseudoaneurysm of the temporal artery. This paper describes three patients who sustained injuries to the temporal region, which resulted in the formation of pseudoaneurysms. All patients had a delayed presentation to the Emergency Department.