BACKGROUND Estrogen improves endothelial function in the coronary conduit vessels of animals; however, its effects on the coronary microcirculation have not been studied completely in humans. METHODS AND RESULTS We measured myocardial blood flow (MBF) with a PET scan at rest, during cold pressor testing (CPT), and during dipyridamole hyperemia in 54 postmenopausal women without coronary arter...

An insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene determines serum ACE levels. The D allele is associated with increased ACE activity and is linked to cardiovascular disease. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in postmenopausal women (PMW) decreases serum ACE activity and concomitantly increases plasma bradykinin. We investigated the effect of HRT on these ...

AIMS Heart rate turbulence (HRT) and heart rate variability (HRV) have been shown to be independent and powerful predictors of mortality in a specific group of cardiac patients. However, the predictive values of HRV alone is modest and information on HRV in patients with mitral valve prolapse (MVP) has so far been conflicting. In addition, no studies have previously evaluated HRT in patients wi...

PURPOSE To determine whether confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopic imaging (Heidelberg retinal tomography [HRT]) can predict visual field change in glaucoma. METHODS The study included 561 patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension whose clinical course was followed at the Mount Sinai Faculty practice. Humphrey visual fields (HVFs) and HRT images were collected on one randomly selected e...

Hemoglobin release test (HRT), which is established by our lab, is a new experiment to observe the re-released hemoglobin (Hb) from erythrocytes. In this study, onedimension HRT, double dimension HRT, and isotonic and hypotonic HRT were performed to observe the re-released Hb from the blood samples of normal adult, hereditary spherocytosis (HS), and α-thalassemia. The results showed that compar...

BACKGROUND Current use of hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) increases the incidence of breast cancer. The Million Women Study was set up to investigate the effects of specific types of HRT on incident and fatal breast cancer. METHODS 1084110 UK women aged 50-64 years were recruited into the Million Women Study between 1996 and 2001, provided information about their use of HRT and other person...

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been shown to increase the relative risk of idiopathic venous thromboembolism (VTE) about threefold in several observational studies and one randomised controlled trial. Whether or not this relative risk is higher in women with underlying thrombophilia phenotypes, such as activated protein C (APC) resistance, is unknown. We therefore restudied the participa...

We tested the hypothesis that hormone replacement therapy (HRT)-related increases in C-reactive protein (CRP) would either be blunted or absent in postmenopausal women who regularly perform endurance exercise. Plasma CRP is an independent predictor of future cardiovascular events in healthy men and women. Oral HRT increases plasma CRP concentrations in postmenopausal women. Regular aerobic exer...

In a recent randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of women with a history of venous thromboembolism (VTE), we found that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was associated with an early excess risk of recurrent thrombosis. The aims of the present study were to characterize the effects of HRT on coagulation in these women to elucidate the mechanism(s) by which HRT increases the risk o...

AIMS Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have shown that the risk of stroke and venous thromboembolism (VTE) is increased with hormone replacement therapy (HRT); the effect on coronary heart disease (CHD) remains unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS RCTs of HRT were identified. Event rates for cerebrovascular disease [stroke, TIA (transient ischaemic attack)], CHD (myocardial infarction, unstable ang...