BACKGROUND Acute aortic dissection (AAD) is a life-threatening cardiovascular disorder that is similar to acute coronary syndrome (ACS), which means differentiating AAD and ACS is sometimes difficult in an emergency. METHODS AND RESULTS Specific information from 131 patients with AAD or ACS was analyzed between April 2001 and March 2002. The emergency room AAD (ERAAD) score was defined as the...

PURPOSE The pathophysiology behind autoimmune Addison's disease (AAD) is poorly understood, and the relative influence of genetic and environmental factors remains unclear. In this study, we examined the heritability of AAD and explored disease-associated autoimmune comorbidity among Swedish twins. METHODS A population-based longitudinal cohort of 112,100 Swedish twins was used to calculate t...

The purpose of this study was to clarify the activities that trigger the onset of acute aortic dissection (AAD) and their relation to the occurrence of AAD. The study group comprised 444 consecutive patients referred for spontaneous AAD. From the hospital medical records, the activities that triggered AAD could be identified in 307 of these: most (86.6%) AAD episodes occurred in relation to phy...

INTRODUCTION The present study aims to evaluate the utility of D-dimer testing for differentiating the causes of acute chest pain, including acute aortic dissection (AAD), pulmonary embolism (PE), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), unstable angina (UA), and other uncertain diagnoses of chest pain. MATERIAL AND METHODS Consecutive patients admitted for acute chest pain within 24 h from symptom...

Acute dissection of the thoracic aorta (AAD) is a potentially catastrophic disease, with significant morbidity and mortality, which remain unchanged over the last decade. Survival rate has been shown to be directly related to prompt diagnosis and precise management; however diagnosis of the disease remains time-consuming, not readily available, and lacking in sensitivity and specificity. The cu...

BACKGROUND Exposure to non-pathogenic Streptococcus pneumoniae and vaccination are inversely associated with asthma. Studies in animal models demonstrate that airway administration of S. pneumoniae (live or killed), or its vaccines or components, suppresses the characteristic features of asthma in mouse models of allergic airway disease (AAD). These components could be developed into immunoregu...

BACKGROUND Although radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFA) has evolved from an experimental procedure to an important treatment option for atrial fibrillation, the relative safety and efficacy of catheter ablation relative to that of antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) therapy has not been established. METHODS AND RESULTS Two separate systematic reviews were conducted: one on RFA and the other on AAD t...

Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is the most common congenital valvular defect and is associated with ascending aortic dilation (AAD) in a quarter of patients. AAD has been ascribed both to the hemodynamic consequences of normally functioning and abnormal BAV morphology, and to the effect of rare and common genetic variation upon function of the ascending aortic media. AAD manifests in two overall a...

INTRODUCTION Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are involved in aortic pathophysiology. Preliminary studies have detected increased plasma levels of MMP8 and MMP9 in patients with acute aortic dissection (AAD). However, the performance of plasma MMP8 and MMP9 for the diagnosis of AAD in the emergency department is at present unknown. METHODS The levels of MMP8 and MMP9 were measured by ELISA on...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY American amphitropical disjunction (AAD) is an important but understudied New World biogeographic pattern in which related plants occur in extratropical North America and South America, but are absent in the intervening tropics. Subtribe Amsinckiinae (Boraginaceae) is one of the richest groups of plants displaying the AAD pattern. Here, we infer a time-calibrated molecular ...