Search

Arterial hypertension is one of the physical complications of chronic lead exposure. Hypertension has effects on aortic elastic properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the aortic elastic properties in workers occupationally exposed to lead. Forty-one workers who were exposed to lead and 39 healthy controls were included in the study. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography for detecting aortic elastic parameters. There were no differences in baseline characteristics between the lead-exposure group and controls. Aortic strain (9.4% ± 4.5% vs 12.4% ± 4.2%, P = .004) and aortic distensibility (0.45 ± 0.21 cm(2) /dyn vs 0.55 ± 0.20 cm(2) /dyn, P = .046) were decreased in patients with lead exposure compared with controls. There was a negative significant weak correlation between aortic strain and (r = -0.294, P = .008) lead levels. There was no significant correlation between aortic distensibility and any other echocardiographic parameters. This study suggests that chronic exposure to lead is related to impairment of aortic elasticity parameters.

Background Several studies have shown an association between psoriasis and atherosclerotic risk factors. In this study, we aimed to evaluate endothelial function by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and insulin resistance by Homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Methods We examined 75 consecutive psoriasis patients and 50 healthy controls. All subjects underwent transthoracic echocardiography and brachial artery imaging for detecting FMD. Fasting blood samples were drawn from all subjects for measuring insulin, C-peptide, fasting blood glucose. HOMA-IR was calculated. Results Baseline characteristics of both groups were similar. Twenty-four psoriatic patients had arthritis. Insulin [9.3 (4.0–208.1) vs. 8.2 (2.3–16.5) mcIU/ml, P = 0.016] and C-peptide [2.5 (0.9–20.0) vs. 2.0 (0.9–3.7) ng/ml, P = 0.009] levels were significantly higher in patients with psoriasis than in controls. HOMA-IR [2.1 (0.8–68.9) vs. 1.8 (0.6–8.6), P = 0.036] was significantly higher in patients with psoriasis than in controls. FMD was reduced in patients with psoriasis compared with healthy controls (5.6 ± 1.9% vs. 10.9 ± 1.9%, P

OBJECTIVES: To compare endothelial function of people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) with that of people without. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Geriatric medicine outpatient clinic of a university hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five patients with AD who were free of vascular risk factors and 24 healthy elderly controls were enrolled. Exclusion criteria were diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, evident stroke, smoking, documented coronary artery disease, history of myocardial infarction, heart failure, acute or chronic infection, malignancy, peripheral artery disease, renal disease, rheumatologic diseases, alcohol abuse, and certain drugs that may affect endothelial function. Both groups underwent comprehensive geriatric assessment and neuropsychiatric assessment. MEASUREMENTS: Endothelial function was evaluated according to flow-mediated dilation (FMD) from the brachial artery. RESULTS: Mean age ± standard deviation was 78 ± 5.9 in the group with AD (11 female and 14 male) and 72.1 ± 5.8 in the control group (9 female and 11 male). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that FMD was significantly lower in patients with AD (median 3.45, range 0–7) than controls (median 8.41, range 1–14) (P < .001), independent of age. It was also found that FMD values were inversely correlated with the stage of the disease as determined according to the Clinical Dementia Rating scale (r=−0.603, P < .001). CONCLUSION: Endothelial function is impaired in patients with AD. Endothelial function was worse in patients with severe AD. These findings provide evidence that vascular factors have a role in the pathogenesis of AD.

Objectives: Subclinical cardiac involvement may occur in patients with Behcet's disease (BD). The purpose of our study was to assess the noninvasive parameters of biventricular function derived from Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) of the tricuspid and mitral annular motion in BD. Methods: Twenty- one patients with BD and 20 control subjects were enrolled in this study. All subjects were selected to exclude those with cardiovascular risk factors. Standard echocardiography and pulsed DTI were obtained in every patient. Results: Peak systolic (13.71 ± 2.09 vs 20.01 ± 1.57, P < 0.001), peak early diastolic (11.26 ± 2.52 vs 15.35 ± 2.06, P < 0.001) tricuspid annular velocities were significantly lower in patients than controls. Peak systolic (8.68 ± 1.4 vs 12.25 ± 1.7, P < 0.001), peak early diastolic (7.89 ± 1.07 vs 9.94 ± 1.12, P < 0.001), and peak end diastolic (8.30 ± 1.32 vs 9.23 ± 0.91, P = 0.013) lateral mitral annular velocities were significantly lower in patients than controls. Conclusions: We demonstrated that myocardial velocities, were affected in patients with BD. Therefore, we conclude that right and left ventricular function is impaired in patients with BD. (ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, Volume 23, October 2006)