Background: Recent studies have shown that hypertension is inversely correlated with bone mineral density (BMD) as determined by dual energy x-ray absorptiometery (DXA) in different ethnic groups. But in most published studies, either the sample size was small or the study was limited by different measurement methods. These limitations leave this association controversial and inconclusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAortic dissection is a potentially fatal but rare disease characterized by an aortic intimal tear with blood passing into the media creating a false lumen and with resultant high mortality depending on the location of dissection if not aggressively treated. Cocaine users are known to have a higher incidence of aortic dissection. We report here aortic dissection in a patient with cocaine abuse which did not respond to traditional medication regimes used currently in this setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe aimed to estimate the association of BMI and risk of systemic hypertension in African-American females aged 65 years and older. In this retrospective, cross-sectional study, medical charts were randomly reviewed after obtaining institutional review board approval and data collection was conducted for height, weight, BMI, age, ethnicity, gender, and hypertension. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The elevation of troponin levels directly corresponds to the extent of myocardial injury. Here we present a case of a robust rise in cardiac biomarkers that correspond to extensive damage to the myocardium but did not spell doom for our patient. It is important to note that, to the best of our knowledge, this is the highest level of troponin I ever reported in the literature after a myocardial injury in an acute setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncrease in pulse pressure has been shown to be predisposing factor for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) in diverse patient populations but its relationship with the severity of CAD, particularly in the South Asians immigrant population of United States has not been demonstrated. We performed a single-center, cross-sectional study. Pulse pressure was calculated by the difference between the systolic and diastolic brachial blood pressures, and the Friesinger score (FS) was used to quantify the severity of CAD with the score of 5 used as a cutoff for extensive disease.
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