Prevention of atherosclerosis progression in asymptomatic healthy elderly.

This review focuses on the role of lipid-lowering, blood pressure-lowering, antithrombotic drugs and diet and their place in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis in middle-aged and elderly men and woman. The major emphasis is on noninvasive assessment of the extent of atherosclerotic plaque and the importance of following plaque progression or regression by use of noninvasive ultrasound. With these data, we can demonstrate to both patients and physicians the value, at any age, of treating hypertension and abnormal blood lipids.

Carotid intimal medial thickness in human immunodeficiency virus-infected women: effects of protease inhibitor use, cardiac risk factors, and the metabolic syndrome.

Context: Little is known regarding carotid intimal medial thickness (IMT) in HIV-infected women and the risk factors for subclinical atherosclerosis in this population, including antiretroviral therapy and the metabolic syndrome.

Objective: Our objective was to assess carotid IMT in relationship to HIV status and antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected women in comparison with healthy age- and body mass index (BMI)-matched control subjects.

Setting And Subjects: The study took place at an academic medical center and included 97 HIV-infected women compared with 86 age- and BMI-matched healthy control subjects.

Effects of obesity, body composition, and adiponectin on carotid intima-media thickness in healthy women.

Context: Increased common carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) is predictive of coronary artery disease and stroke.

Objective: In this study, we investigated common carotid IMT by obesity category in a cohort of healthy women without previously known cardiovascular disease.

Design, Setting, Participants, And Main Outcome Measures: One hundred healthy women (aged 24-59 yr) from the general community enrolled in an observational study conducted at an academic medical center participated in the study.

Atherin: a newly identified, lesion-specific, LDL-binding protein in human atherosclerosis.

Prolonged retention of LDL in focal, atherosclerosis-prone areas of arteries is a primary event in atherogenesis. To determine whether unrecognized LDL-binding proteins participate in this process, we generated a cDNA expression library from deendothelialized rabbit aorta, a model for early atherosclerosis that shows striking focal LDL retention in healing lesions. Library screening identified a previously unknown, highly conserved, 56kDa LDL-binding protein that we call atherin.

Increased cardiovascular disease risk indices in HIV-infected women.

Little is known regarding cardiovascular disease risk indices in HIV-infected women. This study investigated cardiovascular disease risk indices in 100 consecutively recruited HIV-infected women and 75 healthy female control subjects. Subjects were recruited from hospital- and community-based health care providers.

Localization of (99m)Tc-Labeled ApoB Synthetic Peptide in Arterial Lesions of an Experimental Model of Spontaneous Atherosclerosis.

We have previously shown that after administration of (123)I-SP-4 (a synthetic ApoB peptide fragment) to Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbits that foci of tracer uptake can be identified by external gamma camera imaging which correspond to regions of the aortas found to contain abundant atherosclerotic lesions at postmortem evaluation. Because (99m)Tc is preferred over (123)I for scintigraphic imaging, we prepared a (99m)Tc-labeled form of the SP-4 peptide, designated (99m)Tc-P199. To assess the feasibility of detecting atherosclerotic lesions using (99m)Tc-P199 and to compare the relative uptake of the (99m)Tc-labeled and radioiodinated peptides by such lesions, an admixture of (99m)Tc-199 and (125)I-SP-4 was administered to 11 WHHL and 2 normal rabbits.