The Carotid Atherosclerosis Italian Ultrasound study (CAIUS), a multicenter, double-blind clinical trial, performed in 305 asymptomatic, moderately hypercholesterolemic patients, clearly demonstrated beneficial effects of pravastatin on the carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) progression. The database of the CAIUS study was examined in order to investigate the presence of a relationship, if any, between the activity of pravastatin on IMT progression rate and its hypocholesterolemic effect. Quantitative B-mode ultrasound imaging was used to quantify the individual mean maximum IMT progression rate in 3 years. In the overall group of patients (placebo and pravastatin) covariance analysis showed that while the variable 'treatment' (0 = placebo, 1 = pravastatin) was significantly related to the reduction of IMT progression (F= 6.6, P = 0.01), the IMT progression did not correlate with the extent of LDL-C lowering (F= 0.00, P = 0.98). To further investigate this issue. the pravastatin treated group was stratified into quartiles of LDL-C reduction. In contrast to what was observed in the placebo group, in which a positive mean IMT progression rate was observed, independent of the extent of LDL-C reduction, no IMT progressionwas observed in any subgroup treated with pravastatin. No significant difference was found among quartiles and no trend could be identified. In conclusion, the effect of pravastatin treatment on carotid IMT progression rate is beneficial; however the CAIUS study demonstrated that lowering LDL-C by itself, does not explain the variability of beneficial changes in IMT.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0021-9150(99)00434-7 | DOI Listing |
Open Respir Med J
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January 2025
IMT Atlantique, Lab-STICC, UMR CNRS 6285, team RAMBO, F-29238 Brest, France.
Rehabilitation is the process of helping people regain or improve lost or impaired function due to injury, illness, or disease. To assist in tracking the progress of patients undergoing rehabilitation, this paper proposes a lightweight graph-based deep-learning model for the automatic assessment of physical rehabilitation exercises. The model takes as input the 3D skeleton sequence of a patient performing a movement and outputs a continuous quality score, as a means for patient supervision that could complement or even substitute the need for ordinary clinical exams.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLife (Basel)
November 2024
Centro Cardiologico Monzino IRCCS, 20138 Milan, Italy.
Background: Ageing is a significant risk factor for carotid atherosclerosis, affecting over a billion people worldwide. Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) is a surrogate marker for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, with age- and sex-related differences in levels and progression. The onset of clinical manifestations of CVD in women is delayed by about 10 years compared to men.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Biol Med
February 2025
LaTIM UMR 1101, Inserm, Brest, France; University of Western Brittany, Brest, France.
Pre-training strategies based on self-supervised learning (SSL) have demonstrated success as pretext tasks for downstream tasks in computer vision. However, while SSL methods are often domain-agnostic, their direct application to medical imaging is challenging due to the distinct nature of medical images, including specific anatomical and temporal patterns relevant to disease progression. Additionally, traditional SSL pretext tasks often lack the contextual knowledge that is essential for clinical decision support.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur Heart J
December 2024
Lipids and Atherosclerosis Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, 14004 Cordoba, Spain.
Background And Aims: Several studies have supported the role of innate immune system as a key factor in the sterile inflammation underlying the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis in mice. However, its involvement in humans remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the association between neutrophil count, and the intima-media thickness of common carotid arteries (IMT-CC), as well as the potential impact of long-term dietary interventions on these associations.
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