Voltage-gated calcium channels play a key role in chemical synaptic transmission by providing the calcium trigger for regulated neurotransmitter release. Genes encoding the primary structural subunit, alpha1, as well as accessory subunits of presynaptic calcium channels have now been identified in a variety of organisms. The cacophony (cac) gene in Drosophila, also known as nightblind A, encode...

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with reduced numbers and impaired function of circulating angiogenic cells (CAC) which contributes to the progression of atherosclerosis and microvascular disease. Previous studies suggest that short-term infusion of unacylated ghrelin (UAG) normalizes CAC number in patients with T2D. To determine dose-dependent effects of short-term infusion of UA...

A conflict-avoiding code (CAC) C of length n and weight k is a collection of k-subsets of Zn such that Δ(x) ∩ Δ(y) = ∅ for any x, y ∈ C and x = y, where Δ(x) = {a − b : a, b ∈ x, a = b}. Let CAC(n, k) denote the class of all CACs of length n and weight k. A CAC C ∈ CAC(n, k) is said to be equi-difference if any codeword x ∈ C has the form {0, i, 2i, . . . , (k − 1)i}. A CAC with maximum size is...

A new adaptive measurement-based Connection Admission Control (CAC) for ATM networks is proposed. Several CAC methods are considered, and the efficiency/complexity trade-off is studied. In all methods, when a new call arrives, the CAC makes a decision to accept or reject the call according to a novel procedure for free bandwidth evaluation. This procedure is based on online measurements and on ...

Vitamin K is considered to be involved in the pathological mechanisms of coronary artery calcification (CAC). Correlation between CAC and plasma vitamin K levels was studied. A total of 103 patients, with at least one coronary risk factor, were studied. CAC was measured using 64-slice multislice computed tomography (MSCT) and divided into three groups: none (CAC score = 0; n 25), mild to modera...

OBJECTIVE To examine the association of the metabolic syndrome, defined by World Health Organization (WHO) and Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP-III) criteria, and its components with coronary artery calcium (CAC) progression. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Participants were 338 older community-dwelling men and women without known heart disease who had measurements of heart disease risk factors and...

BACKGROUND Circulating microparticles (MPs) derived from endothelial cells and blood cells bear procoagulant activity and promote thrombin generation. Thrombin exerts proinflammatory effects mediating the progression of atherosclerosis. Aortic valve stenosis may represent an atherosclerosis-like process involving both the aortic valve and the vascular system. The aim of this study was to invest...

BACKGROUND Coronary artery calcification (CAC) measured by electron beam computed tomography (EBCT) correlates with plaque burden, vessel stenosis and is predictive of future cardiac events in the general population. Extensive CAC has been described recently in dialysis cohorts. For the first time we studied the relationship between CAC and coronary angiographic findings in patients with chroni...

OBJECTIVE Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) coexists with insulin resistance (IR), but it is uncertain whether NAFLD and IR contribute independently to atherosclerosis. We tested whether fatty liver, IR, and metabolic syndrome (MetS) features (waist, glucose, triglyceride, HDL cholesterol [HDL-C], and blood pressure) were associated with a marker of atherosclerosis (coronary artery calci...

Coronary artery calcium (CAC) is an established marker to predict major cardiovascular events (MACE), and has incremental value over traditional risk factors (CVRF). CAC widely available, easily reproducible, used in nearly all coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) assessment protocols for disease (CAD). The distribution extent of CAC, its prognostic implications local Malaysian patie...