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Michael Sponder,1 Monika Fritzer-Szekeres,2 Rodrig Marculescu,2 Brigitte Litschauer,3 Jeanette Strametz-Juranek1 1Department of Cardiology, 2Department of Medical-Chemical Laboratory Analysis, 3Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria Background: Several scoring systems have tried to determine the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) to investigate the connection between CAD severity and laboratory parameters. Methods: In total, 189 male (mean age: 61.86±10.77 years) and 75 female CAD patients (mean age: 67.84±7.70 years) were recruited and underwent angiography, which determined stenosis grade, of 17 coronary segments: no points for each nonstenosed segment or only calcified segments, one point for each stenosis from 70%. The points were added and should represent the severity of patients' CAD. Results: The coronary score correlated positively with systolic blood pressure, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, lipase, glucose, glycated hemoglobin, triglycerides, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen Clauss, and leukocytes, and correlated negatively with Cl-, iron, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Stepwise multiple regression analysis with backward elimination revealed diabetes status, sex, and fibrinogen Clauss as significant predictors of coronary score. Conclusion: The coronary score delivers a quite simple but very precise tool for the quantification of CAD severity. These results show plainly the connection between CAD severity and the lipid, glucose, coagulation, and immunologic status of CAD patients, and substantiate the importance of sufficient treatment in this group of patients – in particular, CAD patients suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus. The coronary score would offer a suitable tool for the investigation of the connection between CAD and new biomarkers. Further studies are needed to investigate the correlation of the coronary score with outcome parameters (eg, death). Keywords: coronary artery disease, grading system, angiography, diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis

Michael Sponder,1 Monika Fritzer-Szekeres,2 Rodrig Marculescu,2 Martina Mittlböck,3 Maria Uhl,4 Birgit Köhler-Vallant,5 Jeanette Strametz-Juranek1 1Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; 2Department of Medical-Chemical Laboratory Analysis, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; 3Department of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Section for Clinical Biometrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; 4Department of Pollutants and Human, Environment Agency Austria, Vienna, Austria; 5Department of Inorganic Analysis, Environment Agency Austria, Vienna, Austria Background: Heavy metal pollutants such as cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg) are rarely the subjects of cardiovascular research although they have been suspected for decades to negatively impact the circulatory system. Methods: Apart from detailed anamnestic data, urinary levels of Cd and full blood levels of Pb and Hg were measured in 53 female (mean age: 68.04±7.03 years) and 111 male (mean age: 60.68±11.43 years) nonsmoking or never-smoking patients with angiographically verified and precisely quantified coronary artery disease (CAD). Results: Although Cd was quantifiable in 68.3% of subjects, only 34.1% of these patients exceeded the critical 1 µg/L Human Biomonitoring (HBM)-I level. Median Pb (20 µg/L) and Hg (0.55 µg/L) levels were lower than the HBM-I, as well as reference levels of Pb. Wine consumption was the main source for Pb, fish and wine consumption for Hg, and previous nicotine abuse for Cd. There was no correlation between Cd, Pb, or Hg and severity of CAD although severity correlated positively with atherosclerosis parameters (uric acid, creatinine, triglycerides, blood urea nitrogen, C-reactive protein) and negatively with high density lipoprotein cholesterol. Conclusion: Cd levels detected in CAD patients were high compared to German and European reference levels but it could not be proven that urine levels of Cd and blood levels of Hg or Pb played a major role in the genesis of CAD, particularly when compared to well-known biomarkers such as blood pressure, glucose, and lipids. Keywords: cadmium, plumbum, mercury, coronary artery disease, pollutants

Background: Narrowband UVB phototherapy (NB‐UVB) is a mainstay in the treatment of numerous inflammatory dermatoses. Whereas, a wealth of studies has shown that NB‐UVB treatment increases 25‐hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D) levels, only sparse and controversial data exist on its effect on serum folate and cobalamin. Objectives: To determine whether exposure to NB‐UVB alters serum folate or cobalamin levels. Methods: A single‐centre, prospective, open observational study on 101 patients subjected to NB‐UVB phototherapy between late fall and early spring. Serum folate, 25(OH)D and cobalamin levels were measured after 0, 12, 24 and 36 NB‐UVB exposures. Results: After 12 NB‐UVB exposures a significant decrease of mean serum folate (−1.0 nmol/L; P = 0.03) and cobalamin (−14.5 pmol/L, P = 0.03) levels was observed whereas serum levels of 25(OH)D showed a significant increase (35.4 nmol/L, P < 0.0001). Conclusions: A standard course of NB‐UVB induces a small but significant decrease of serum folate and cobalamin levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]