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Background: One of the most potent pro-inflammatory mediators is the early-acting cytokine interleukin (IL)-1, whose actions are regulated by the structurally related IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1 Ra). IL-1 Ra is a competitive IL-1 inhibitor and a powerful anti-inflammatory agent. Several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases have been associated with an allelic polymorphism of the IL-1 Ra gene., Methods: We investigated the frequency of allele 2 of an intron 2 polymorphism of the IL-1 Ra gene in 115 consecutive patients with ischemic heart disease -74 of which had a previous myocardial infarction (48 +/- 11 years), 21 chronic stable angina (54 +/- 10 years), and 20 unstable angina (54 +/- 9 years)--and in 80 healthy controls, matched for age and sex to patients with myocardial infarction (47 +/- 10 years). An 86 base pair variable tandem repeat in intron 2 of the IL-1 Ra gene was determined by a polymerase chain reaction-based method., Results: The frequency of allele 2 was 15% in controls (carriage rate 25%) and 17% in ischemic heart disease patients (carriage rate 28%; p = 0.70). The allele 2 frequency did not differ significantly among the three patient groups. Among patients with myocardial infarction, the allele 2 frequency tended to be higher in patients with myocardial infarction < 40 years compared to those > or = 40 years (20 vs 11%, p = 0.20, OR 1.85, 95% CI 0.70-4.90), and in patients with C-reactive protein levels > or = 3 mg/l compared to those with values < 3 mg/l (31 vs 16%, p = 0.15, OR 2.38, 95% CI 0.64-9.25)., Conclusions: These data do not show a clear-cut association between the allele 2 of this IL-1 Ra gene polymorphism and ischemic heart disease. Among patients with myocardial infarction, the increased allele 2 frequency in those of younger age and with higher levels of C-reactive protein merits further investigation.

To evaluate the scientific output of Italy compared to other countries in clinical and basic research, the twelve top ranking journals according to the impact factor in each group were considered. A total impact factor score of one country was the sum of the impact factor of all articles attributed to a certain country in all journals. Italy ranked sixth in clinical research but only ninth in basic research. According to our analysis, the Italian scientific output in the biomedical field is comparable to that of other countries. Further financial analysis of the correlation between research funding and scientific output could allow a more productive allocation of resources.

Until a few years ago coronary atherosclerosis was thought to be a slowly progressive disease eventually leading to total coronary occlusion and myocardial infarction. Recent angiographic studies have shown, instead, that mild or moderate coronary stenoses have the highest risk of causing acute coronary syndromes when complicated by thrombus formation which, in turn, appears to be due to a complex interaction between the atherosclerotic background and acute ischemic stimuli. The tendency of the atherosclerotic background to develop thrombosis may be different in different patients, as indicated by the observation that the risk factor profile of patients who present with chronic coronary syndromes is different from that of patients who present with acute syndromes. The acute ischemic stimuli so far identified are: a sudden local thrombogenic stimulus; a transient systemic increase in systemic pro-coagulant activity; a transient increase in proximal and/or distal coronary tone. The recent observation of inflammatory cells activation, including T-lymphocytes, in patients with acute ischemic syndromes raises the intriguing possibility that a specific antigenic stimulus may play an important pathogenetic role.