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The study described in this paper involved a close examination of one of the least-researched cement phases, 4CaO⋅Al2O3⋅Fe2O3 (C4AF or ferrite). The two ferrite materials used in this program were: 1) extracted from an industrial clinker free of 3CaO⋅Al2O3 (C3A or aluminate); and 2) a laboratory-synthesized C4AF compound. Both ferrite materials were initially characterized using optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The hydration kinetics and reactivity of both materials were studied with a calorimetric technique. Similar to aluminate, ferrite also demonstrated a strong early hydration rate. An adequate amount of sulfate (SO3) was needed to regulate the ferrite hydration rate. Based on this work, an equivalent aluminate content, C3Aeq, is proposed. The hydration of C3Aeq needs to be properly controlled with the appropriate amount of sulfate. The concept, based on equivalent aluminate content for cement sulfate optimization, ensures proper early hydration behavior from both C3A and C4AF and avoids potential cement-admixture incompatibility problems, especially for the cements containing little or no C3A content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epicardial fat tissue is known as a risk factor in cardiovascular diseases. This study was designed to compare the epicardial fat thickness in patients with cardiovascular diseases and normal patients. It also tried to find a correlation between epicardial fat thickness and severity of coronary stenosis. Methods: This study was conducted from September 2010 to April 2011 at two university hospitals (Noor and Chamran Referral centers) associated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. A total number of 196 subjects were allocate to three groups of control (n = 68), acute coronary syndrome (n = 64) and chronic stable angina (n = 64). After registering demographic data, all individuals underwent echocardiography in diastolic subcostal view to determine the epicardial fat thickness. Angiography was also conducted to assess the severity of coronary stenosis. The thickness of epicardial fat was compared between groups and its correlations with age, sex, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, waist circumference, body mass index and severity of coronary stenosis were evaluated. Findings: The mean age of participants was 59.54 ± 11.01 years. There were statistical differences between age, sex, smoking and severity of coronary stenosis (P < 0.001, P = 0.03, P = 0.04, and P < 0.001, respectively). The mean of epicardial fat thickness in acute coronary syndrome, chronic stable angina and control groups were 5.7 ± 2.1, 6.2 ± 2.0 and 4.6 ± 1.9 mm (P < 0.001). There were no independent correlation between predicting factors and epicardial fat thickness (P > 0.05). Conclusion: This study indicated the thickness of epicardial fat to be more in cardiovascular diseases compared with normal persons. Future studies for evaluating the sensitivity and specificity of this diagnostic method are warranted.

Background: Although high sensitive C-reactive protein (HS CRP) is a predictive factor for acute coronary syndrome, there is controversy about its predictive power. Therefore, it is known as a novel risk factor for coronary artery diseases. Methods: A descriptive, analytic study was performed on 80 patients with acute coronary syndrome. A checklist including demographics, risk factors and the existence of myocardial infarction was completed for all patients. SPSS17 was used to analyze the collected data. Findings: A total number of 30 patients with unstable angina and 25 patients with ST elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST elevated myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) were included the study. Mean CRP values were evaluated in all three groups. There were significant differences between the groups (P < 0.05). The mean ± SD in unstable angina, STEMI and NSTMEI groups were 1.5 ± 0.96, 4.87 ± 1.91 and 2.6 ±1.8, respectively. Conclusion: This study showed CRP to be a risk factor for predicting cardiac incidences. In addition, it is of high value in predicting acute coronary syndrome.

BACKGROUND: About 2-5% of people experience deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) during their lives. Death, disease recurrence, post-thrombotic syndrome, and excessive bleeding due to coagulant medications are among the most important DVT complications. Recent research found a high incidence of DVT recurrence after the first attack. Disease recurrence has a multifactorial pathogenesis and its probability is related with the number and severity of risk factors. The present study aimed to investigate DVT recurrence and the associated risk factors. METHODS: This retrospective cross-sectional study evaluated all DVT patients hospitalized in Alzahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, during April 2000 to April 2011. The risk factors were obtained from patients' records including smoking, intravenous drug abuse, having a history of surgery in last four weeks, immobility, obesity, history of cardiac disease, and cancer. RESULTS: A total number of 2550 DVT patients were hospitalized in Alzahra Hospital during the study period. It was only possible to extract the data from 385 patient records. A history of DVT was reported in 48 individuals (12.5%). The comparison between the risk factors in patients with a first time DVT and those experiencing a recurrent DVT revealed significant differences solely in the prevalence of blood disorders and immobility. Applying stepwise regression indicated immobility (OR: 4.57; 95% CI: 1.26-16.57; P < 0.021) and coagulopathy (OR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.13-0.81; P < 0.016) with DVT recurrence. CONCLUSION: Based on our findings, DVT patients are suggested to be mobilized as soon as possible. In addition, they should be advised to increase their activity after discharge. Keywords: Deep Vein Thrombosis, Immobility, Risk Factor

مقدمه: در بررسی بیماران مبتلا به نارسایی عروق کرونر، برخی عوامل ناشناخته وجود دارند که باعث بروز علایم انسداد عروق کرونر و آنژین صدری در بیماران می‌گردند؛ در حالی که در بررسی‌های پاراکلینیک بیماران، یافته‌ی مثبتی دال بر استنوز عروق کرونر به دست نمی‌آید. یکی از این عوامل که گمان می‌رود در ایجاد علایم مذکور نقش داشته باشد، تورتوزیتی عروق کرونر است. در این مطالعه به بررسی نقش تورتوزیتی در ایجاد علایم بالینی گرفتاری عروق کرونر پرداختیم. روش‌ها: این مطالعه یک پژوهش مورد شاهدی بود که در سال‌های 1389 و 1390 در مراکز آموزشی درمانی وابسته به دانشگاه علوم پزشکی اصفهان به انجام رسید. جامعه‌ی آماری مورد مطالعه بیماران دارای علایم بالینی بیماری قلبی عروقی کاندید آنژیوگرافی عروق کرونر بودند. با انجام آنژیوگرافی، بیمارانی که مبتلا به تورتوزیتی عروق کرونر بودند به عنوان گروه مورد و بیماران فاقد تورتوزیتی به عنوان گروه شاهد، وارد مطالعه شدند. اطلاعات دموگرافیک، بالینی، عوامل خطر و همچنین یافته‌های آنژیوگرافی در دو گروه با استفاده از روش و شاخص Gensini بررسی گردید. در هر کدام از گروه‌ها 100 بیمار مورد مطالعه قرارگرفت. اطلاعات به دست آمده از آنان پس از ورود به رایانه به وسیله‌ی نرم‌افزار SPSS نسخه‌ی 18 و آزمون‌های آماری Student-t و 2χ مورد تجزیه و تحلیل قرار گرفت. یافته‌ها: 15 درصد بیماران بررسی شده دارای تورتوزیتی بودند. از نظر علایم بالینی بین دو گروه، بر اساس تقسیم‌بندی کلاس انجمن قلب کانادا (CCS یا Canadian cardiovascular society) و Functional class تفاوت معنی‌داری وجود داشت. علایم بالینی در بیماران مبتلا به تورتوزیتی دارای شیوع بالاتری بودند، ولی فراوانی PND (Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea) و ارتوپنه بین دو گروه تفاوت معنی‌داری نداشت. میانگین شاخص Gensini در گروه مورد به طور واضح پایین‌تر بود و بیماران گروه مورد با وجود تنگی کمتر عروق کرونر، شدت بیشتری از علایم بالینی را نشان دادند. در بررسی یافته‌های آنژیوگرافی در گروه مبتلا به تورتوزیتی، با وجود این که میانگین شاخص Gensini در شریان‌های LAD (Left anterior descending artery)، OM (Obtuse marginal) و LCX (Left circumflex) پایین‌تر بود، اما این شریان‌ها به طور معنی‌داری بیشتر گرفتار تنگی شده بودند؛ ولی در گروه شاهد بیشتر شریان‌های RCA (Right coronary artery) و diagonal دچار تنگی بودند. در بقیه‌ی شریان‌ها تنگی عروق کرونر بین دو گروه تفاوت معنی‌داری دیده نشد. نتیجه‌گیری: در این مطالعه در تعداد قابل توجهی از یافته‌های بالینی، دموگرافیک و آنژیوگرافیک دو گروه تفاوت معنی‌دار به دست آمد. بنابراین به نظر می‌رسد که تورتوزیتی عروق کرونر می‌تواند باعث ایجاد علایم و نشانه‌های ایسکمی میوکارد در بیماران گردد. ایجاد این علایم مستقل از شدت تنگی آنژیوگرافیک عروق کرونر اپی‌کاردیال است.

BACKGROUND: The role of novel biomarkers like homocystein as a risk factor of coronary artery disease (CAD) is being increasingly recognized. There is a marked geographical variation in plasma homocystein concentration. In spite of importance of hyperhomocysteinemia in CAD risk, there is a paucity of studies in Iran that evaluate it. Consequently, we evaluated the association between plasma total homocystein (tHcy) concentration and CAD risk in an Iranian population.METHODS: In a case-control study, we compared the level of tHcy of forty five patients with angiographically proved CAD with forty five age and gender matched subjects without CAD as control group. The patients with diabetes, hypertension, thyroid dysfunction, chronic renal failure, hyperlipidemia and obesity and other conventional CAD risk factors were excluded from the study. Plasma tHcy was measured using immunoturbidimetry. RESULTS: Homocystein level was higher in men than women (16.7 ± 5.2 versus 14.3 ± 3.9 micromol/lit, P = 0.019). CAD patients had higher mean plasma tHcy than control group (17.1 ± 5.3 versus 14.2 ± 3.8 micromol/lit, P = 0.004). CONCLUSION: This study denoted that high plasma homocystein concentration is associated with CAD risk in Iranian people. Keywords: Coronary Artery Disease, Homocystein, Iran.

BACKGROUND: Lack of information about clinical symptoms and risk factors of coronary artery tortuosity prompted us to perform this study to compare patients with and without coronary artery tortuosity. METHODS: Among patients with chronic stable angina who underwent coronary angiography, we selected 98 patients with coronary tortuosity. They were retrospectively compared with 98 chronic stable angina patients without tortuosity to determine clinical symptom, risk factors, and angiography findings via Gensini score. RESULTS: In this study, 68.4% of patients with coronary tortuosity were female (P = 0.001). The mean age in this group was 59.2 years compared to 53.9 years in patients without tortuosity (P = 0.001). More than 7 clinical symptoms despite less coronary stenosis were found in tortuous coronary group. Among cardiovascular risk factors, only diabetes was significantly more common in the non-tortuous coronary group. CONCLUSION: This study concluded that coronary tortuosity is more common in the elderly and among female gender. Diabetic patients may have less prevalence of tortuosity. Further studies may provide more data about the cause and better management of the higher number of clinical symptoms in these patients despite their less epicardial artery stenosis. Keywords: Coronary Tortusity, Clinical Symptoms, Risk Factors.