Atherosclerosis is a chronic, progressive, multifocal arterial wall disease caused by local and systemic inflammation responsible for major cardiovascular complications such as myocardial infarction and stroke. With the recent understanding that vulnerable plaque erosion and rupture, with subsequent thrombosis, rather than luminal stenosis, is the underlying cause of acute ischemic events, there has been a shift of focus to understand the mechanisms that make an atherosclerotic plaque unstable or vulnerable to rupture. The presence of inflammation in the atherosclerotic plaque has been considered as one of the initial events which convert a stable plaque into an unstable and vulnerable plaque. This paper systemically reviews the noninvasive and invasive imaging modalities that are currently available to detect this inflammatory process, at least in the intermediate stages, and discusses the ongoing studies that will help us to better understand and identify it at the molecular level.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/410967 | DOI Listing |
Sex Med
December 2024
Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, United States.
Background: Erectile dysfunction is a condition with a rapidly increasing prevalence globally with a strong correlation to the increase in obesity and cardiovascular disease rates.
Aim: The aim of the current study is to investigate the potential role of tubacin, a histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) inhibitor, in restoring erectile function in a hypercholesterolemia-induced endothelial dysfunction model.
Methods: Thirty-nine male C57Bl/6 J mice were divided into 3 groups.
Cardiovasc Diagn Ther
December 2024
Department of Cardiology, Beijing An Zhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Beijing Engineering Research Center of Cardiovascular Wisdom Diagnosis and Treatment, Beijing, China.
Background: The prevalence of very high-risk atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is significant in China, with suboptimal rates of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) compliance exacerbating plaque instability and causing a higher incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs). Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors (PCSK9i) are effective in reducing LDL-C levels, increase the stability of vulnerable plaque, and influence the progression of atherosclerosis through multiple mechanisms as demonstrated in animal studies. However, there is currently a lack of evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of high-intensity statin therapy combined with PCSK9i in the secondary prevention of ASCVD in the Chinese population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomech Eng
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Yuquan Campus, 38 Zheda Road, Hangzhou 310027, Zhejiang, China; Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study of Zhejiang University, Zhangjiang Guochuang Center phase, No.799, Dangui Road, Shanghai 200120, China.
The carotid and vertebral arteries are principal conduits for cerebral blood supply and are common sites for atherosclerotic plaque formation. To date, there has been extensive clinical and hemodynamic reporting on carotid arteries; however, studies focusing on the hemodynamic characteristics of the vertebral artery (VA) are notably scarce. This article presents a systematic analysis of the impact of VA diameter and the angle of divergence from the subclavian artery (SA) on hemodynamic properties, facilitated by the construction of an idealized VA geometric model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr
January 2025
British Heart Foundation Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Edinburgh Imaging, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Electronic address:
Background: Diabetes mellitus is an established cardiovascular risk factor. We assessed the impact of diabetes mellitus on quantitative plaque and long-term outcomes in patients with and without diabetes mellitus in the Scottish COmputed Tomography of the HEART (SCOT-HEART) trial.
Methods: Coronary artery calcium (CAC) was assessed on non-contrast computed tomography (CT).
Aim: To study the associations between risk factors, clinical characteristics, severity of brachiocephalic artery (BCA) atherosclerosis and severity of coronary artery (CA) disease in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
Material And Methods: The study included patients with any type of ACS and obstructive coronary artery disease confirmed by coronary angiography. A quantitative analysis of coronary angiography data was performed with an assessment of the number of CAs with significant stenosis and calculation of the SYNTAX score.
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