Ascending aortic wall degeneration in patients with bicuspid versus tricuspid aortic valve.

Background: The magnitude of ascending aortic degeneration in patients with bicuspid aortic valves (BAV) is controversial.

Methods: The aim of this study was to investigate ascending aortic wall degeneration in patients with BAV as compared with tricuspid aortic valves (TAV). The ascending aortic wall of 67 consecutive patients was processed for histology and immunohistochemistry.

Neovascularization with chronic inflammation characterizes ascending aortic dissection.

Objective: Neovascularization of the aortic wall may be associated with aortic dissection (AD). Aortic wall endothelial CD31 deposition together with chronic inflammation indicates angiogenesis that may lead to tissue disruption. We studied the presence of neovascularization of the ascending aortic wall by characterizing CD31 positive endothelial cells.

Carbonic anhydrase IX deposits are associated with increased ascending aortic dilatation.

Objectives: Carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX) expression is induced by local hypoxia. We studied whether CA IX deposits associate with ascending aortic dilatation.

Design: Aortic wall histology, CA IX expression, presence of leukocytes, plasma cells, macrophages, endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, cell proliferation, elastin and collagen were studied in histological specimens collected from 30 patients who underwent surgery for ascending aorta.

Diagnostic performance of plasma high sensitive C-reactive protein in detecting three-vessel coronary artery disease: modification by apolipoprotein E genotype.

Objectives: Plasma high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) concentration is an important clinical test of systemic inflammation and, like apoE epsilon4 allele, an important risk factor of coronary artery disease (CAD). We investigated whether the diagnostic performance of plasma hsCRP in detecting severe 3-vessel CAD may be modified by apoE epsilon4 carrier status.

Methods: The study population (Angiography and Genes Study) comprised 485 Finnish subjects (336 men and 149 women, mean age 64.

Potassium channel KCNH2 K897T polymorphism and cardiac repolarization during exercise test: The Finnish Cardiovascular Study.

Objective: Cardiac repolarization is regulated, in part, by the KCNH2 gene, which encodes a rapidly activating component of the delayed rectifier potassium channel. The gene expresses a functional single nucleotide polymorphism, K897T, which changes the biophysical properties of the channel. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether this polymorphism influences two indices of repolarization--the QT interval and T-wave alternans (TWA)--during different phases of a physical exercise test.

The p22phox C242T gene polymorphism is associated with a reduced risk of angiographically verified coronary artery disease in a high-risk Finnish Caucasian population. The Finnish Cardiovascular Study.

Background: Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase is a major source of the superoxide anion, which may play an important role in the development of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease (CAD). The p22phox, a component of the NADPH oxidase, is essential for the activation of this enzyme, and intensive expression of the p22phox has been reported in human atherosclerotic arteries. However, studies on the association of the C242T polymorphism in the p22phox gene with CAD have produced conflicting results, and the relation of this polymorphism with CAD is not well known in a population with acquired risk factors enhancing the NADPH-dependent superoxide production.

Induction of SOS response, cellular efflux and oxidative stress response genes by chlorambucil in DNA repair-deficient Escherichia coli cells (ada, ogt and mutS).

Chlorambucil (CLB) is a bifunctional alkylating drug widely used as an anticancer agent and as an immunosuppressant. It is known to be mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic. The cellular actions of CLB have remained poorly investigated.

Oestrogen receptor gene variation is a determinant of coronary reactivity in healthy young men.

Background: Oxidised low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) is a determinant of impaired coronary function and oestrogens inhibit its formation probably throughout genetically-variable oestrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) in artery wall. We hypothesized that the ESR1 polymorphism might influence coronary function and reactivity as measured by positron emission tomography (PET), which allows the detection of coronary dysfunction before appearance of angiographic lesions.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-one healthy young men (aged 35 +/- 4 years), with normal or slightly-elevated serum cholesterol, underwent PET with intravenous adenosine.

Selective toxicity of vincristine against chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells in vitro.

The cytotoxicity of vincristine in vitro was investigated in B chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells and in normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells. An approximately 25-fold selectivity towards leukemic vs. normal lymphocytes was demonstrated.

Increased DNA single-strand break joining activity in UV-irradiated CD34+ versus CD34- bone marrow cells.

The kinetics of UV-irradiation-induced (254 nm) DNA single-strand breaks (SSBs) were studied in single human hematopoietic cells using alkaline comet assay. Three cell populations were investigated: (i) Bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNCs) isolated by density gradient centrifugation, (ii) CD34- cells, and (iii) CD34+ cells. The two latter populations were purified from BMMNCs by negative and positive selection, respectively, using anti-CD34 immunobeads.