Polycystic ovarian syndrome and subclinical atherosclerosis among women of reproductive age in the Dallas heart study.

Objective: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrinopathy of young women, is characterized by androgen excess and is frequently associated with cardiovascular risk factors. However, it is unclear whether PCOS is a risk factor for atherosclerosis. We sought to determine in a multiethnic population-based sample whether women with PCOS have greater measures of subclinical atherosclerosis than women without PCOS.

Relation of osteoprotegerin to coronary calcium and aortic plaque (from the Dallas Heart Study).

Circulating osteoprotegerin (OPG) has been shown to be elevated in patients with vascular disease. The role of OPG as a biomarker for atherosclerosis in a large, unselected population is not well known. Plasma OPG levels were measured in 3,386 subjects in the Dallas Heart Study, a multiethnic, population-based probability sample of adults aged 30 to 65 years.

Associations among androgens, estrogens, and natriuretic peptides in young women: observations from the Dallas Heart Study.

Objectives: We sought to determine if natriuretic peptides are associated with estrogen and androgen status in a population study of young women without known cardiac disease.

Background: Circulating concentrations of plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) are higher in women than in men, and they may be influenced by estrogens and androgens.

Methods: Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, dual energy X-ray absorbtiometry, and measurements of BNP, NT-proBNP, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), total testosterone, and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), were performed in 682 women (ages 35 to 49 years) participating in the Dallas Heart Study.

Management of hepatic and intracardiac echinococcal cysts: case report and review of the literature.

Background: Infection with Echinococcus granulosus affects the liver commonly, but disseminated involvement is rare. We describe a 63 year-old man with echinococcal infection producing both hepatic and cardiac involvement that was managed surgically after failed percutaneous hepatic treatment.

Methods: This report is a case study of a unique surgical problem.

African Americans and Caucasians have a similar prevalence of coronary calcium in the Dallas Heart Study.

Objectives: We sought to compare the prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis in a cohort of middle-age African American (black) and non-Hispanic Caucasian (white) men and women from a population-based probability sample.

Background: Blacks have a higher mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) than whites, particularly among younger individuals, and yet several studies have reported that coronary atherosclerosis is less prevalent in blacks than in whites. Data from population-based samples comparing coronary atherosclerotic burden between blacks and whites are limited.