As a first step, the authors emphasise lifestyle changes (increased physical activity, stopping smoking), blood pressure control, and lowering cholesterol). The initial medical treatment should always be a combination treatment with metformin and a sodium-glucose transporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor or a glucagon-like 1 peptide (GLP-1) receptor agonist. Metformin is given first and up-titrated, followed by SGLT-2 inhibitors or GLP-1 receptor agonists.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: Appropriate management of adrenal insufficiency (AI) in pregnancy can be challenging due to the rarity of the disease and lack of evidence-based recommendations to guide glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid dosage adjustment.
Objective: Multicenter survey on current clinical approaches in managing AI during pregnancy.
Design: Retrospective anonymized data collection from 19 international centers from 2013 to 2019.
Amiodarone is a widely used antiarrythmic drug and can lead either to hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism due to its molecular structure which is similar to levothyroxin. Amiodarone induced hypothyroidism can be treated easely with hormonal subsitution. Hyperthyroidism is more challenging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Adverse events in utero may predispose to cardiovascular disease in adulthood. The underlying mechanisms are unknown. During preeclampsia, vasculotoxic factors are released into the maternal circulation by the diseased placenta.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Chronic mountain sickness (CMS) is an important public health problem and is characterized by exaggerated hypoxemia, erythrocytosis, and pulmonary hypertension. While pulmonary hypertension is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with CMS, it is relatively mild and its underlying mechanisms are not known. We speculated that during mild exercise associated with daily activities, pulmonary hypertension in CMS is much more pronounced.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnticoagulant heparan sulfate proteoglycans bind and activate antithrombin by virtue of a specific 3-O-sulfated pentasaccharide. They not only occur in the vascular wall but also in extravascular tissues, such as the ovary, where their functions remain unknown. The rupture of the ovarian follicle at ovulation is one of the most striking examples of tissue remodeling in adult mammals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInvasive studies suggest that healthy children living at high altitude display pulmonary hypertension, but the data to support this assumption are sparse. Nitric oxide (NO) synthesized by the respiratory epithelium regulates pulmonary artery pressure, and its synthesis was reported to be increased in Aymara high-altitude dwellers. We hypothesized that pulmonary artery pressure will be lower in Aymara children than in children of European ancestry at high altitude, and that this will be related to increased respiratory NO.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObesity is characterized by increased adiposity of visceral and subcutaneous depots as well as other organs, including the vasculature. These fat depots secrete various hormone-like proteins implicated in metabolic homeostasis (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOur view of white adipose tissue (WAT) has changed over the last decade, from an inert triglyceride storage tissue to a highly active metabolic organ. Indeed, WAT secretes proinflammatory cytokines such TNF-a, interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and chemokines such as monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), interferon gamma inducible protein 10 (IP-10), interleukin-8 (IL-8), RANTES, and peptides with hormone-like actions such as adiponectin, leptin and resistin. Through their paracrine actions these factors contribute to local WAT inflammation, neoangiogenesis and differentiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Recent observations indicate that the delivery of nitric oxide by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is not only critical for metabolic homeostasis, but could also be important for mitochondrial biogenesis, a key organelle for free fatty acid (FFA) oxidation and energy production. Because mice deficient for the gene of eNOS (eNOS(-/-)) have increased triglycerides and FFA levels, in addition to hypertension and insulin resistance, we hypothesized that these knockout mice may have decreased energy expenditure and defective beta-oxidation.
Research Design And Methods: Several markers of mitochondrial activity were assessed in C57BL/6J wild-type or eNOS(-/-) mice including the energy expenditure and oxygen consumption by indirect calorimetry, in vitro beta-oxidation in isolated mitochondria from skeletal muscle, and expression of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation.
Obesity is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although obesity-associated hypertension, dyslipidemia and insulin resistance account in part for this association, it becomes increasingly apparent that a systemic and local pro-inflammatory response of adipose tissue might also be a contributing factor. White adipose tissue (WAT) is a highly active organ secreting various peptides such as cytokines, chemokines and hormone-like proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudies of high-altitude populations, and in particular of maladapted subgroups, may provide important insight into underlying mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of hypoxemia-related disease states in general. Over the past decade, studies involving short-term hypoxic exposure have greatly advanced our knowledge regarding underlying mechanisms and predisposing events of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. Studies in high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE)-prone subjects, a condition characterized by exaggerated hypoxic pulmonary hypertension, have provided evidence for the central role of pulmonary vascular endothelial and respiratory epithelial nitric oxide (NO) for pulmonary artery pressure homeostasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObesity/insulin resistance ("diabesity") and the associated long term complications are reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. Recent evidence in experimental animals and humans shows that nitric oxide (NO) plays a key role in glucose and cardiovascular homeostasis. Pharmaceutical drugs releasing small and physiological amounts of NO may represent potential new treatments for insulin resistance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Med Suisse Romande
October 2004
Obesity and insulin resistance are reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. Over the past decade, nitric oxide (NO) has emerged as a key player in the regulation of the metabolic and cardiovascular homeostasis. Here we will review recent data obtained in mice with disruption of the genes encoding for each of the three nitric oxide synthase isoforms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpidemiological studies demonstrate an association between insulin resistance, hypertension and cardiovascular morbidity. Over the past decade, evidence has accumulated indicating that short-term insulin administration, in addition to its metabolic effects, also has important cardiovascular actions. The sympathetic nervous system and the L-arginine-nitric oxide pathway have emerged as central players in the mediation of insulin's cardiovascular actions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNitric oxide (NO) plays a major role in the regulation of cardiovascular and metabolic homeostasis, as evidenced by insulin resistance and arterial hypertension in endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) null mice. Extrapolation of these findings to humans is difficult, however, because eNOS gene deficiency has not been reported. eNOS gene polymorphism and impaired NO synthesis, however, have been reported in several cardiovascular disease states and could predispose to insulin resistance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF