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Bioactive compounds are the food constituents, providing beneficial health effects to functional foods and nutraceuticals. These compounds have antioxidants activity including anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and have additional preventative actions. Since these compounds are important constituents enhancing function of the foods, therefore, these constituents are necessary to be incorporated under the umbrella of functional foods. Functional foods provides health benefits though bioactive compounds, as these compounds target mechanisms that manage, prevent, and/or treat chronic or acute diseases. The bioactive compounds are quite essential for functional foods that are crucial for optimal health, thereby leading to the inclusion of these compounds in the most recent definition of functional foods. Some experts have defined that bioactive compounds are the chemical components that contributes and regulates in biological mechanisms. These bioactive compounds are more accurately defined by Dr. Martirosyan and Pisarski as the “primary and secondary metabolites of nutritive and non-nutritive natural components generating health benefits by preventing or managing chronic disease or its symptoms”. These compounds have potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, which provide benefits to health. Although they are a small proportion of a food source, these compounds can also trigger the mechanisms that will alter and can improve human health. Certain bioactive compounds present in foods are extremely beneficial, but if consumed in excess, they can cause toxicity. Therefore, each bioactive compound must be fully evaluated in order to establish a beneficial and a toxic threshold amount.

Heart failure (HF) has become a public health problem, but exact pathophysiology is still unknown. Western diet characterised with high sugar, high fat, red meat and processed meat, eggs, fried foods and sweetened beverages, may cause oxidative stress and inflammation, leading to oxidative dysfunction and adverse effects on cardiac-ultra-structure. However, only little is known about oxidative function of the of the myocardium and how oxidative dysfunction predispose Ca-overloading resulting in to physio-pathological remodelling leading to HF. Antioxidants such as flavonoids and polyphenolics, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, minerals as well as essential and nonessential amino acids that are rich in Indo-Mediterranean type of diets, may have protective roles in maintaining oxidative functions of the heart. The cardiac cells use fatty acids and glucose for the metabolic functions depending upon physiological and metabolic requirements. Apart from glucotoxicity, lipotoxicity is also damaging to cardiac cells which worsen in presence of deficiency of endogenous antioxidants and lower exogenous antioxidants in the diet. There is increased production of ceramide, advanced glycation end products (AGE) and triamino-methyl-N-oxide (TMAO) due to high sugar and high fat diets, leading to oxidative dysfunction and Ca-overloading. The biological changes may begin with physiological remodelling to pathological remodelling due to oxidative damages. High fat diet in combination with inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOSi) via N-arginine methyl ester has been found to preserve ejection fraction in a mouse model of HF. It is possible that increased supplementation of High Exogenous Antioxidant Restorative Treatment (HEART) diet; polyphenolics and flavonoids, vitamins, minerals, arginine, with omega-3 fatty acids, and cessation of red meat and egg may further improve the oxidative function of cardiac cells, resulting in the prevention and improvement in the earliest of the Six Stages of HF. Cohort studies and randomised, controlled trials would be necessary for demonstration of the role of HEART diet in the management of HF.

Background: High prevalence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are global problems. Many countries focus their healthcare on secondary treatment, and primary prevention is in the background. Focusing on risk factors (RF) screening of CVD in personalized medicine has great potential for the future. We present a methodology for identification of important RF as well as the potentially new once. Materials and Methods: We worked with the dataset of patients hospitalized in the East Slovak Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Košice. The file contained 808 records, complete history, laboratory tests, ECG, echocardiography, and selective coronary angiography. We analyzed the importance of variables based on CART, Random forest, and Logistic regression algorithms (binary classification) and propose a new weighted agglomerative attribute importance metric. After selection of potentially important, but less known RF we re-deployed the CART algorithm on selected combinations of risk factors, while the target attribute was divided into six original classes corresponding to the severity of the coronarography finding.Results: Selected important variables based on the proposed metric are in accordance with known results, but also pointed to some potentially relevant RF such as fibrinogen. The experiments confirmed that fibrinogen might have the potential to help determine cardiovascular risk. However, its impact is debatable, but its potential increases if it is potentiated by factors other than HDL. We also concluded that higher HDL levels might have a cardio protective effect. Conclusions: Our study proposed original methodology for identification of important RF and in depth analysis of potentially interesting new RF. Results showed that fibrinogen could be one of the critical risk factors of cardiovascular diseases. Experimental results suggest that there may be others besides traditional RF of CVD, such as the fibrinogen and HDL levels we investigate. Still, studies with a larger patient population are needed to draw significant conclusions.

Despite progress in both primary and secondary prevention, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are still the largest group of ailments contributing to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Atherosclerotic changes, the primary pathological substrate for CVD, are closely related to hypercholesterolemia. Therefore, the treatment of hypercholesterolemia is a key therapeutic strategy for CVD management. Statins, as the gold standard in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, have shown enhanced cardiac outcomes in many randomized clinical trials. However, often despite the maximum allowed and tolerated dosage of statins, we are not able to reach the target cholesterol levels, and thus patients persist at an increased cardiovascular risk. Recently, most of the large clinical studies in the field of preventive cardiology have focused on proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 (PCSK9) and its activity regulation. PCSK9 plays an essential role in the metabolism of LDL particles by inhibiting LDL receptor recirculation to the cell surface. Recent studies have shown that inhibition of PCSK9 by the administration of monoclonal antibodies is capable of significantly reducing LDL levels (up to an additional 60%) as well as reducing the incidence of CVD. However, this treatment procedure of administering the anti-PCSK9 antibodies, most frequently two times a month, has its limitations in terms of time, patient adherence, and nevertheless cost. Administration of active vaccination instead of passive immunization with anti-PCSK9 antibodies may be an effective way of controlling blood cholesterol levels. However, clinical data, as well as human testing, are still inadequate. This work aims to provide an overview of PCSK9 vaccines and their potential clinical benefit.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to compare the plasma levels of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), hemopexin (Hpx), and interleukin-4 (IL-4) in patients with carotid artery atherosclerosis based on neurological symptoms and plaque histopathology and to find association between plaque stability and neurological symptoms. This single-center study included patients treated surgically for significant stenosis of the internal carotid artery. Serum levels of biomarkers were determined, and a histopathological analysis of the carotid plaques was performed. Within 70 patients, 40 asymptomatic and 30 symptomatic; 38 patients (54.3%) were diagnosed with unstable carotid plaque and 32 patients (45.7%) had a stable carotid plaque. Significantly higher incidence of unstable carotid plaque was detected in symptomatic patients (p

Chronic heart failure (CHF) has different stages and includes pre-HF (PHF), a state of high risk of developing myocardial dysfunction and advanced CHF. Some major behavioral risk factors of PHF might predispose to biological risk factors such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, hypertension, myocardial infarction, and cardiomyopathy. These risk factors damage the myocytes leading to fibrosis, apoptosis, cardiac hypertrophy, along with alterations in cardiomyocyte' size and shape. A condition of physiological subcellular remodeling resulting into a pathological state might be developed, conducting to PHF. Both PHF and heart failure (HF) are associated with the activation of phospholipases and protease, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and development of intra-cellular free Ca

Today, there are many parameters used for cardiovascular risk quantification and to identify many of the high-risk subjects, however, many of them do not reflect reality. Modern personalized medicine is the key to fast and effective diagnostics and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. One step towards this goal is a better understanding of connections between numerous risk factors. We used Factor analysis to identify a suitable number of factors on observed data about patients hospitalized in the East Slovak Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Košice. The data describes 808 participants cross-identifying symptomatic and coronarography resulting characteristics. We created several clusters of factors. The most significant cluster of factors identified six factors: basic characteristics of the patient, renal parameters and fibrinogen, family predisposition to CVD, personal history of CVD, lifestyle of the patient, and echo and ECG examination results. The factor analysis results confirmed the known findings and recommendations related to CVD. The derivation of new facts concerning the risk factors of CVD will be of interest to further research, focusing, among other things, on explanatory methods.

In this paper we present a decision support system, which has been designed and implemented on the case-based reasoning principles. Our decision support system is being implemented in tight cooperation with the cardiologist, who represents the main future users of the system. Our system enables its user to find the most similar historical cases to a new patient, suggest the most probable result of the potential coronary angiography examination and also provide various useful visualizations to the cardiologist, who is responsible for the final decision about recommending the coronary angiography or not for the new patient. The first response from the cardiologist about our system is very promising.

Diagnosis of bowel diseases is often difficult and time consuming since it is not always possible to obtain adequate information by the conventional diagnostic methods to set up a diagnosis and exclude nongastrointestinal causes of symptoms. The aim of this study was to investigate the structure of blood serum samples of patients with selected intestinal diseases. The blood serum samples of patients (N=35) with selected diagnoses (mesenteric thrombosis, inflammatory bowel disease, duodenal ulcers, sepsis, enterorrhagia, sigmoid colon resection, small intestine cancer) and of healthy subjects were evaluated by synchronous fluorescence fingerprint and atomic force microscopy. Autofluorescence of blood serum studied at λex = 280 nm showed significant decrease of fluorescence intensity in patients with all types of diseases affecting bowels in comparison with the healthy control patients. The blood serum surface of ill patients showed significant differences in comparison with control group samples after atomic force microscopy evaluation as well. Irregularly placed small globular units of irregular shape in small amounts are possible to observe in patients with intestine ischemia. Fluorescence analysis and atomic force microscopy showed the ability to rapidly reflect qualitative and quantitative changes of proteins in blood serum samples of patients. These sensitive methods could be beneficial for monitoring the progression of both acute or chronic bowel diseases.

The dietary benefits of nuts may be provided by hemostatic factors, omega-3 fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, essential and nonessential amino acids, vitamins, flavonoids, folic acids, and plant sterols that may be present in nuts. Onion, garlic, spices, green tea, and other herbs could be another dimension which may have beneficial effects on human health and diseases. Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, peanuts may have beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk factors. Epidemiological studies suggested that nut eating was associated with diminished risk of cardiometabolic diseases; obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs); coronary artery disease, hypertension and stroke. Recent cohort studies showed that eating 20–60 g per day of nuts may be protective against noncommunicable diseases (NCD). A meta-analysis of studies showed that one serving of nuts per week and per day resulted in 4% (RR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.93, 0.98) and 27% (RR: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.88) decreased risk of all-cause mortality, respectively, and decreased risk of CVD mortality. More recent meta-analysis show that increased intake of tree nuts or peanuts can also cause significant decline in all-cause mortality and mortality due to many NCDs. Further studies are necessary to confirm these results.

The epidemic of diabetes mellitus has developed together with rising prevalence of obesity. Obesity is a potential risk factor of type 2 diabetes. Emergence of fast food restaurants exponentially and globally in recent decades appears to be an important factor. Rising consumption of fast foods and its easy availability everywhere is actually responsible for an unhealthy diet with high calories; increased portion sizes; more processed meat, superrefined carbohydrates, sweet beverages and unhealthy fats like trans fat, saturated fat, omega-6 fat, with less omega-3 and monounsaturated fat. There has been a decreased consumption of herbs, whole grains, and nuts causing an imbalance in the food consumption pattern resulting in obesity and diabetes. Functional food security by increased availability of vegetables, whole grains, and nuts, with a blend of oils, especially olive oil and mustard oil, may be useful in the prevention of diabetes.

The evolutionary dietary patterns were characterized with wild plant foods, honey, egg, fish, and meat from running animals. The dietary intakes in Paleolithic Homo erectus, hunter-gatherers compared to Western populations, show significant differences which may be because of education, knowledge, and technological developments. With an increase in wealth and affluence, there is a decrease in the intake of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, antioxidants, and essential and nonessential amino acids and a significant increase in the intakes of refined carbohydrates, fat (saturated, trans fat, and linoleic acid), and salt compared to the Paleolithic period. The protein or amino acid intake was 2.5-fold greater (33% vs 13%) in the Paleolithic diet of Homo erectus compared to the modern Western diet. Prior to the Agricultural Revolution, our diet was based on an enormous variety of wild plants, eggs, fish, and seeds. However, today about 17% of plant species provide 90% of the world’s food supply which is mainly contributed by fertilizer-based rapidly grown crops of grains which may result in a decrease in nutrient density and increase in energy. The majority of the grains are high in omega-6 fatty acids and carbohydrates and low in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants compared to leafy green vegetables. The diets of Homo sapiens and Homo erectus populations were characterized by higher intakes of functional foods, high in protective nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, flavonoids, and omega-3 fatty acids as well as essential and nonessential amino acids. The modern Western diets are characterized with high saturated fat, omega-6 fat, and trans fat, and excess of energy-rich refined carbohydrates. Increased intake of such foods in lower-middle- and high-income countries in association with physical inactivity has been associated with an epidemic of cardiometabolic diseases and increased risk of death due to noncommunicable diseases.

Economic growth and affluence are associated with an increase in the intake of total and saturated fat, and trans fat, as well as animal foods. Economic development also allows the people to consume ready prepared refined foods; snacks, beverages, and major meals with high glycemic index. These foods are characteristic of a Western diet, i.e., deficient in micronutrients; vitamins, antioxidants, amino acids, and omega-3 fatty acids, but they are high in refined carbohydrates, fat (saturated, trans fat, and linoleic acid) and salt compared to the prudent diet. Globalization of the Western diet is associated with the emergence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs); cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, cancer, liver and gastrointestinal diseases, bone and joint diseases, degenerative diseases of brain, and psychological disorders. NCDs come in a wave, first they occur to affluent populations with high income and those who are becoming rich during economic growth of the developing countries such as India, China, Indonesia. After learning the methods of prevention, there is a decline in NCDs in affluent and educated populations. Population health education that occurs with further economic growth is associated with the globalization of prudent diets, resulting in a decline in NCDs which has already started in the high-income countries, such as United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Northern Europe, Mediterranean countries, Australia, and New Zealand. Grains are specifically very high in carbohydrates and omega-6 fatty acids but low in proteins, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids as compared to prudent foods: vegetables, fruits, pulses and nuts. Globalization of prudent diets may be associated with a decline in the NCDs as well as in health promotion.

The study aims to examine the effects of coenzyme Q10, (a bioenergetic antioxidant), on the indexes of left ventricular remodeling, oxidative damage, and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) level after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with left ventricular dysfunction. In a double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel group study (a retrospective analysis of an earlier trial) in 55 patients with left ventricular ejection fraction &lt, 50% after AMI, the effects of coenzyme Q10 (120 mg/day) or placebo were studied for 24 weeks. Two-dimensional echocardiography was performed at discharge, (approximately 5&ndash, 10 days after admission) and at 6 months after AMI. The results revealed that wall thickness opposite the site of infarction decreased from (mean &plusmn, standard deviation (SD)) 12.2 &plusmn, 2.0 mm to 10.0 &plusmn, 1.8 mm with coenzyme Q10 compared with 12.8 &plusmn, 2.2 mm to 13.3 &plusmn, 2.3 mm with placebo (p &lt, 0.01). Left ventricular mass changed from 236 &plusmn, 72 g to 213 &plusmn, 61 g with coenzyme Q10 compared with 230 &plusmn, 77 g to 255 &plusmn, 86 g with placebo (p &lt, 0.01). Treatment with coenzyme Q10 also prevented alteration of sphericity index which is a ratio of the long and short axis of the left ventricle (which changed from 1.61 &plusmn, 0.28 to 1.63 &plusmn, 0.30 with coenzyme Q10 compared with 1.61 &plusmn, 0.32 to 1.41 &plusmn, 0.31 with placebo (p &lt, 0.05)). Coenzyme Q10 also prevented alteration of the wall thickening abnormality at the infarct site, which changed from 9.4 &plusmn, 3.0 cm2 to 9.1 &plusmn, 2.8 cm2 compared with 10.1 &plusmn, 3.1 to 13.7 &plusmn, 4.2 cm2 with placebo (p &lt, 0.05). End diastolic and systolic volumes also showed significant reduction with coenzyme Q10 compared to placebo. The serum level of ACE showed significant decline in the coenzyme Q10 group compared to the control group. Treatment with coenzyme Q10 early after AMI causes attenuation of left ventricular remodeling and decreases the serum ACE level in patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

(2003). Overview of Ubiquinone, in Memory of a Champion, Dr Emile G. Bliznakov. Journal of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine: Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 211-214.

Dyslipidemia is one of the most important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, which are the main cause of death worldwide. There are two treatment options for dyslipidemia that complement each other. Despite the spread of lipid-lowering therapy and its increasing use in clinical practice, a large numbers of patients still remain in high “residual cardiovascular risk.” Currently at the forefront of lipid-lowering agents, statins significantly lower LDLcholesterol but in the terms of effect on the levels of triglycerides and HDL-cholesterol there is much less impact. This is a serious problem, especially in patients with atherogenic dyslipidemia, typical for patients with metabolic syndrome. For this reason, high attention has recently been given to combination of lipid-lowering agents. It is also important to mention the important pleiotropic effects of hypolipidemics. This article provides an overview of current lipid-lowering agents, their comparisons as well as new recommendations in the management of dyslipidemia.

s / Atherosclerosis 241 (2015) e149ee229 e207 EAS-0936. COMPLEMENTARY EFFECT OF COMBINATION OF STATINS WITH COENZYME Q10 AND OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS IN PATIENTS WITH COMBINED DYSLIPIDEMIA S. T oth, M. Sajty, T. Pek arov a, J. Feda cko, K. Spi s akov a, D. Pella. 1st Department of Internal Medicine, avol Jozef Saf arik University in Ko sice Faculty of Medicine, Kosice, Slovakia * Corresponding author. Introduction: Several studies have described a positive effect of statins and omega-3 PUFA or CoQ10 on cardiovascular system. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of this triple combination on various parameters associated with the progression of cardiovascular disorders. Material and methods: 90 patients taking statins at a dose, which allowed target LDL levels, but with remained elevated TG levels (1.5-4.5 mmol/L) were randomized into three groups (each N1⁄430). In the placebocontrol group we indicated continued administration of statins. In the groups with additive treatment patients continued use of statins in combination with omega-3 PUFA 3 g/day respectively omega-3 PUFA 3 g/ day and 200 mg CoQ10/day during three months. After 3 months (± 1 week), we performed a final examination and collection of samples. We observed the lipid profile (total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, TG), hsCRP levels, activity SOD and GPx and presence of negative pleiotropic effects of statins. Results: Combination of statins with omega-3 PUFA significantly reduced TG and increased HDL levels. Significant reduction of hsCRP and increse of GTx and SOD was detected as well. Triple combination significantly decreased LDL and increased HDL in compare to control and dual combination. hsCRP significantly decreased in compare to control and dual combination group. SOD significantly increased in compare to control and dual combination group and GPx in compare to control. Conclusion: According to our study we suggest positive and complementary effect of combined therapy on lipid parameters, endothelial function and some negative pleiotropic effects of statins. EAS-0948. STATINS IMPACT IN A PORTUGUESE PRIMARY CARE UNIT J. Frutuoso. Internal Medicine, Hospital Jos e Joaquim Fernandes, Beja