BACKGROUND Ezetimibe, a cholesterol-absorption inhibitor, reduces levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol when added to statin treatment. However, the effect of ezetimibe on the progression of atherosclerosis remains unknown. METHODS We conducted a double-blind, randomized, 24-month trial comparing the effects of daily therapy with 80 mg of simvastatin either with placebo or with ...

BACKGROUND Restriction in fetal growth is associated with cardiovascular disease in adulthood. It is unclear whether abnormal intrauterine growth influences arterial morphology during the fetal or neonatal stage. The objective was to study the regional arterial morphology with respect to gestational age and abnormal fetal body size. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied body anthropometrics and arte...

Low birth weight, caused either by preterm birth or by intrauterine growth restriction, has recently been associated with increased rates of adult renal and cardiovascular disease. Since aortic intima-media thickening is a noninvasive marker of preclinical vascular disease, we compared abdominal aortic intima-media thickness among intrauterine growth restricted and equivalent gestational age fe...

In this paper presents identification of intima media thickness (IMT) in common carotid Artery ultrasound video sequence. It is fully using automatic segmentation, these are based on unsupervised manner. The aim of this study introduces a novel unsupervised Computer Aided Detection (CAD) Algorithm that is able to identify and measure the IMT in 2D ultrasound carotid images. The developed techni...

BACKGROUND Hemostasis affects ischemic cardiovascular disease through its role in formation of occluding arterial thrombi. Several studies suggest that hemostasis also might play a role in atherogenesis. We investigated whether individuals with an inherited bleeding tendency are protected against development of atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 76 individuals with an inherited b...

In studies on carotid artery intima-media thickness and stroke, researchers implicitly assume that cerebrovascular abnormalities show a symmetrical distribution. To evaluate whether there is a difference in intima-media thickness between the 2 carotids, we compared left and right common carotid artery intima-media thickness as measured by B-mode ultrasonography in a group of 102 untreated hyper...

INTRODUCTION The aim of the study was to investigate the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis and predictors of change in carotid intima-media measures in early rheumatoid arthritis patients (eRA) as compared to chronic RA patients and patients without arthritis. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifty-five consecutive eRA patients were assessed at the time of diagnosis and after 1 year of therapy. Fif...