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 Electron beam CT (EBCT) is an accurate, noninvasive method to detect and quantify coronary artery calcification, a marker of coronary artery disease (CAD). This investigation examined the accuracy of EBCT to detect obstructive CAD (> or =50% stenosis) and determined the optimal strata for quantity of coronary artery calcification to facilitate clinical decision-making. METHODS AND ...

BACKGROUND Although a variety of non-invasive methods for measuring cardiovascular (CV) risk (such as carotid intima media thickness, pulse wave velocity (PWV), coronary artery and aortic calcification scores (measured either by CT scan or X-ray) and the ankle brachial index (ABI)) have been evaluated separately in chronic kidney disease (CKD) cohorts, few studies have evaluated these methods s...

background one of the most important causes of mortality in developed and developing countries is coronary artery disease. coronary artery disease (cad) may develop by deposition of lipid, fibrous or calcified debris on the surface of the coronary artery lumen. fibrous plaque and calcified plaque may cause substantial stenosis of coronary arteries leading to ischemia of heart muscle while lipid...

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship of pericardial adipose tissue (PAT) with coronary artery calcification in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. DESIGN AND METHODS The baseline cohort comprised 6,814 Caucasian (38%), African-American (28%), Chinese American (12%), and Hispanic (22%) adults aged 45-84, without known clinical cardiovascular disease. Cardiac CT was used to measure PAT ...

BACKGROUND Atherosclerosis in different vessel beds shares lifestyle and environmental risk factors. It is unclear whether this holds for genetic risk factors. Hence, for the current study genetic loci for coronary artery calcification and serum lipid levels, one of the strongest risk factors for atherosclerosis, were used to assess their relation with atherosclerosis in different vessel beds. ...

OBJECTIVES The MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) is a population-based study of 6,814 men and women. We sought to analyze the relationship between the extent of coronary artery calcium (CAC) at baseline and the severity of coronary stenoses in clinically indicated coronary angiography studies during follow-up. BACKGROUND CAC is an established predictor of major cardiovascular event...

Some reports have revealed that warfarin inhibits the matrix carboxyglutamic acid protein (MGP), which inhibits calcification. Treatment of rats with warfarin at doses that inhibit the carboxylation of MGP causes rapid calcification of elastic lamellae of arteries and of aortic heart valves and increased expression of MGP-mRNA in the calcifying artery. Therefore warfarin use might result in inc...

Coronary artery calcifications (CAC) are highly prevalent in asymptomatic maintenance dialysis patients (MHP), detection and surveillance of such coronary disease could be helpful in clinical practice. In cross-sectional study conducted in our dialysis Unit, including 49 MHP, We have assessed and quantified coronary artery calcification and theirs risk factors. Detection and quantification of c...

BACKGROUND Two endophenotypes of arterial calcification, calcification on arterial wall and calcification in atherosclerotic plaques, are associated with different types of cardiovascular events. Mgp-deficient mice showed matrix Gla protein (MGP) is strongly associated with calcification on arterial wall without atherosclerotic plaques, and MGP variants were not significantly associated with my...