Effective shell layer thickness of platinum for oxygen reduction reaction alloy catalysts.

Effects of surface Pt monolayer thickness on electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction of molecular-beam-epitaxially-prepared Pt/Ni/Pt(111) were investigated. The effective thickness of Pt for stabilizing the topmost surface can be deduced to be three monolayers.

Association between ENOS gene polymorphism and cardiovascular events in nondiabetic hemodialysis patients: a prospective study.

Background: Synthesis of nitric oxide by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (ENOS) plays a key role in the atherosclerotic process. Several polymorphisms of the gene encoding ENOS are now known and have been investigated with respect to their influence on cardiovascular disease risk in the general population. The authors prospectively investigated whether ENOS gene polymorphisms determined the risk of cardiovascular complications in a cohort of hemodialysis patients.

Different risk factors for the maximum and the mean carotid intima-media thickness in hemodialysis patients.

Objective: High-resolution B-mode ultrasonography has been widely used for the noninvasive assessment of atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients. But, there are two major methods of carotid ultrasonography: one including plaque and the other excluding plaque.

Methods: The subjects were 112 hemodialysis patients (58 men and 54 women) with a mean age of 55.

Bone mineral density may be related to atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients.

Biological interactions between the bone and the blood vessels are gradually being clarified. To investigate the relationship between bone mineral density and atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients, we examined the bone mineral density and the intima-media thickness of the carotid artery in 83 dialysis patients with non-diabetic nephropathy (44 men and 39 women) aged from 23 to 83 years. The duration of hemodialysis ranged from 2 to 344 months.

Effect of polymorphism of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase and apolipoprotein E genes on carotid atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients.

Background: Decreased synthesis of nitric oxide (NO) and dyslipidemia are implicated in the development of atherosclerosis.

Methods: We investigated the relationship between endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) gene polymorphism, apolipoprotein E (apoE) polymorphism, and carotid atherosclerosis in 163 hemodialysis patients with nondiabetic nephropathy. Intima media thickness of the carotid artery was measured by ultrasonography, and subjects were classified according to the presence or absence of carotid plaque.