OBJECTIVE The drug warfarin blocks carboxylation of vitamin K-dependent proteins and acts as an anticoagulant and an accelerant of vascular calcification. The calcification inhibitor MGP (matrix Gla [carboxyglutamic acid] protein), produced by vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), is a key target of warfarin action in promoting calcification; however, it remains unclear whether proteins in the ...

Vascular calcification is common in ESRD patients and is important in increasing mortality from cardiovascular complications in these patients. Hyperphosphatemia related to chronic kidney disease is increasingly known as major stimulus for vascular calcification. Hyperphosphatemia and vascular calcification become popular discussion among nephrologist environment more than five decades, and man...

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death among renal transplant recipients. Aortic calcification is associated with increased mortality in dialysis subjects. The significance of aortic calcification among renal transplant recipients is unknown. Our objective was to prospectively examine the association of aortic calcification with cardiovascular events and all-cause mortali...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between aortic arch calcification and clinical and radiographical parameters on chest radiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively evaluated 242 consecutive patients that were admitted to our intensive care unit for dyspnea. Chest radiography was performed for all patients with the posteroanterior view. Cardiothoracic ratio (CTR), mediastinal ra...

Assessment of Coronary Artery Disease After Heart Transplantation To the Editor: In their study of electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) for the assessment of coronary artery disease in heart transplantation, Knollmann et al1 noted a significant discrepancy between the amount of calcification measured by EBCT and that measured by intracoronary ultrasound. In their discussion, they suggest a ...

The present studies demonstrate that growth and vitamin D treatment enhance the extent of artery calcification in rats given sufficient doses of Warfarin to inhibit gamma-carboxylation of matrix Gla protein, a calcification inhibitor known to be expressed by smooth muscle cells and macrophages in the artery wall. The first series of experiments examined the influence of age and growth status on...

conclusion the relationship between calcification of teeth and maturation of cervical bones was significant. bone maturation can be predicted by using teeth calcification stages, especially in the second molar, first molar and lateral incisor. results correlations between the two stages were observed in the first and second premolars, canine and central incisors. all these correlations were sig...

normal 0 false false false en-us x-none fa background : fahr's disease is a rare neurodegenerative disorder of unknown cause characterized by idiopathic basal ganglia calcification that is associated with neuropsychiatric and cognitive impairment. no case of fahr's disease with associated cardiac conduction disease has been described in the literature to date. the objective of this case report ...

Coronary artery calcification is a well-established predictor of future cardiac events; however, it is not a predictor of unstable plaque. The intimal calcification of the atherosclerotic plaques may begin with smooth muscle cell apoptosis and release of matrix vesicles and is almost always seen microscopically in pathological intimal thickening, which appears as microcalcification (≥0.5 μm, ty...