Interstitial Randall's plaques and collecting duct plugs are distinct forms of renal calcification thought to provide sites for stone retention within the kidney. Here we assessed kidney stone precursor lesions in a random cohort of stone formers undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Each accessible papilla was endoscopically mapped following stone removal. The percent papillary surface area...

AIMS To evaluate the plaque composition obtained by virtual histology (VH) IVUS according to the clinical presentation and to compare those data to previously published histopathology data. METHODS AND RESULTS VH was performed on 95 de novo significant lesions (>75% stenosis) in 85 patients [28 acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients, 30 lesions; 57 stable angina pectoris (SAP) patients, 65 le...

Macrophages in advanced atherosclerotic lesions accumulate large amounts of unesterified, or "free," cholesterol (FC). FC accumulation induces macrophage apoptosis, which likely contributes to plaque destabilization. Apoptosis is triggered by the enrichment of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) with FC, resulting in depletion of ER calcium stores, and induction of the unfolded protein response. To ...

Background—Experimental studies suggest that low wall shear stress (WSS) promotes plaque development and high WSS is associated with plaque destabilization. We hypothesized that low-WSS segments in patients with coronary artery disease develop plaque progression and high-WSS segments develop necrotic core progression with fibrous tissue regression. Methods and Results—Twenty patients with coron...

BACKGROUND We sought to determine the predictive value of the combined traditional Framingham risk score (FRS) and coronary artery calcium score (CACS) for subclinical coronary plaque detected by computed tomography coronary angiogram (CTCA) in asymptomatic subjects. METHOD We evaluated 167 asymptomatic Taiwanese subjects (mean age, 57 ± 11.2 years), who underwent CTCA as part of a health eva...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between cigarette smoking and coronary atherosclerotic burden, volume and composition as determined in-vivo by grayscale and virtual histology (VH) intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). METHODS AND RESULTS Between 2008 and 2011, (VH-)IVUS of a non-culprit coronary artery was performed in 581 patients undergoing coronary angiography. To accou...

INTRODUCTION Many factors can contribute to the development of gingival overgrowth (hyperplasia), including: plaque control; periodontal variables; medications and their relative dose; age; sex; and, genetic factors. Nifedipine is a calcium channel blocker commonly reported to result in drug-induced gingival overgrowth (DIGO). This report outlines a case of gingival overgrowth induced by amlodi...

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to evaluate the severity of subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with asymptomatic impaired fasting glucose (IFG) compared to those with diabetes mellitus (DM) and normal fasting glucose (NFG), as measured by coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA). DESIGN Subjects were divided into three groups: NFG (<100 mg/dL), IFG (100-125 mg/dL) and DM. Coron...

BACKGROUND Lesion composition, rather than size or volume, determines whether an atherosclerotic plaque will progress, regress, or rupture, but current techniques cannot provide precise quantitative information about lesion composition. We have developed a technique to assess the pathological state of human coronary artery samples by quantifying their chemical composition with near-infrared Ram...

This paper reviews the evidence for calcium-antagonist properties of oestrogen which may offer long-term protective effects on the cardiovascular system in postmenopausal women. Oestrogen has already been shown to have a beneficial effect on cholesterol metabolism and deposition, thereby inhibiting the formation of atherosclerotic plaque and coronary atheroma. Calcium antagonism, resulting in b...