INTERRACIALI, geographic, and sex differences in the incidence of coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular accidents in various parts of the world have aroused great interest in the study of atherosclerosis of the coronary and cerebral arteries. The extent and severity of atherosclerosis of these vessels vary in different countries." 2 It is likely that the degree of correlation between ather...

We have observed that pigs with impaired platelet function in the form of severe von Willebrand's disease (vWd) are resistant to spontaneous and to diet-induced aortic atherosclerosis. However, it has been reported that vWd pigs are susceptible to coronary atherosclerosis produced by balloon-induced injury of coronary arteries combined with an atherogenic diet. We have evaluated the development...

background: atherosclerosis is a multifactorial disorder with chronic inflammatory conditions in which immune cells play a significant role in its pathogenic process. regulatory t cells (treg), as a part of immune system, are involved in controlling autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. quantitative and/or functional alteration of tregs has been shown to play an atheroprotective role and may al...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of our study was to assess the prevalence and extent of coronary artery atherosclerosis in asymptomatic patients with vascular erectile dysfunction (ED). BACKGROUND An association between ED and ischemic heart disease has been suggested, but it is unknown if it represents a marker of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis. METHODS We studied 70 consecutive patients with...

BACKGROUND Recent genome-wide association studies have identified 49 single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with clinical coronary artery disease. The mechanism by which these loci influence risk remains largely unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS We examined the association between a genetic risk score composed of high-risk alleles at the 49 single nucleotide polymorphisms and the degree of sub...

Cardiovascular disease, predominantly coronary heart disease and stroke, leads to high morbidity and mortality not only in developed worlds but also in underdeveloped regions. The dominant pathologic foundation for cardiovascular disease is atherosclerosis and as to coronary heart disease, coronary atherosclerosis and resulting lumen stenosis, even total occlusions. In translational research, s...

DKK1 modulates Wnt signaling, which is involved in the atherosclerosis. However, no data exist regarding the usefulness of measuring serum DKK1 concentration in predicting coronary atherosclerosis. A total of 270 consecutive patients (62.8 ± 11.2 yr; 70% male) were included. A contrast-enhanced 64-slice coronary MDCT was performed to identify the presence of atherosclerotic plaques. Agatston ca...