Publications by authors named "Teodora Yaneva-Sirakova"
Carotid stenting may produce significant bradycardia and/or hypotension. This may have negative short- and long-term effects for the elderly high-risk patients. Their cerebral hemodynamics is with exhausted adaptive capacity because of the multiple cardiovascular risk factors, advanced age, and significant stenosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Atherosclerosis, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking impact neurotransmission and neuronal activity, with ongoing research into their specific effects.
- Controlling these health issues during midlife can improve cognitive function later, but the impact of severe carotid stenoses on brain activity and cognition is still debated.
- Research aims to identify neuronal activity markers that could help evaluate cognitive outcomes in patients undergoing carotid stenting, combining biochemical analysis, neuropsychological tests, and imaging for better insights.
Article Synopsis
- Carotid stenting is becoming more common and affects the levels of neurotrophins, which are crucial for neuron survival and function.
- The study involved 78 participants: 39 with significant carotid stenoses undergoing stenting and a control group without arterial disease. Blood samples were taken to measure neurotrophin levels before, shortly after, and one month after the procedure.
- Results showed lower brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in patients with carotid stenosis compared to controls, with an increase in BDNF after stenting, while nerve growth factor (NGF) levels decreased post-stenting but were not statistically significant.
People with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may be at higher risk of death than normal aging ones. On the other hand, patients with cardiovascular risk factors are also with higher risk of death. It may be logical to question then if the combination of MCI and cardio-vascular risk factors (in most cases arterial hypertension) can lead to higher mortality rate than expected both for high cardio-vascular risk patients and for the general population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Interventional treatment in vascular systems has significantly progressed, but challenges remain, particularly regarding safety and the effectiveness of coronary methods in other vascular areas.
- There is a specific issue in assessing the functionality of intermediate lesions, as different organs have unique circulation patterns, necessitating tailored testing methods.
- The review emphasizes evaluating intermediate stenosis outside coronary arteries, highlighting the complexity of treatment decisions in areas with existing collateral networks and the importance of advanced imaging techniques.
Screening for mild cognitive impairment in patients with cardiovascular risk factors.
Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat
December 2017
Aim: Cardiovascular risk factors are also risk factors for cognitive impairment. They have cumulative effect in target organ damage. The precise correlation between cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive impairment, as well as assessing the extent to which they may affect cognitive functioning, is difficult to ascertain in everyday clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study compared different methods of measuring blood pressure (BP) to see which is a better predictor of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in hypertensive patients.
- It involved 70 patients (mostly females, avg. age 65) who underwent various BP measurements and cognitive tests like MMSE and MoCA.
- Results showed that central pulse pressure was significantly higher in patients with MCI, indicating strong links between central BP and cognitive impairment, while office BP was the least effective indicator.
Article Synopsis
- Patients with poorly controlled blood pressure are at higher risk for cardiovascular issues and cognitive decline, and pulse pressure (PP) is an important but often overlooked indicator of potential damage.
- A study involving 148 patients showed significant correlations between both daytime and nighttime pulse pressure and results from cognitive tests, revealing that higher pulse pressure is linked to cognitive impairment regardless of age.
- The findings suggest that high daytime and nighttime pulse pressure can indicate not just cognitive issues but also large artery stiffness, emphasizing the need for better blood pressure management in patients of varying ages.
The role of suboptimal home-measured blood pressure control for cognitive decline.
Dement Geriatr Cogn Dis Extra
January 2012
Aim: We aim to analyze if there is any correlation between suboptimal home-/self-measured blood pressure values and the results from neuropsychological screening tests for early cognitive impairment.
Methods: We studied 325 patients with treated hypertension. Mean age was 66.