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Aim. To assess the prevalence of traditional risk factors and analyze the predictors of recurrent cardiovascular events in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).Material and methods. A total of 482 patients with ACS were included. The follow-up lasted three years. The composite endpoint (CE) included recurrent unstable angina, nonfatal myocardial infarction, repeated percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), nonfatal ischemic stroke, hospitalization for decompensated heart failure, and cardiovascular death.Results. A high prevalence of traditional risk factors was revealed (dyslipidemia — 467 (96,9%), hypertension — 464 (96,3%), consumption of junk food — 450 (93,4%), sedentary lifestyle — 416 (86,3%)). During the three-year follow-up period, 90 patients had CE. Compared with patients without CE (n=392), patients with CE were significantly more likely to have a long-term CAD (69 (76,7%) vs 241 (61,5%), p=0,007), ACS accompanied by shortness of breath (50 (55,6%) vs 160 (40,9%), p=0,013); they had previously undergone myocardial revascularization (38 (42,2%) vs 116 (29,6%), p=0,024), often by PCI (36 (40,0%) vs 100 (25,5%), p=0,009), especially in the left main coronary artery (LMCA) (6 (6,7%) vs 3 (0,8%), p=0,002); they were more likely to develop in-hospital acute left ventricular failure (11 (12,2%) vs 18 (4,6%), p=0,012), had a lower hemoglobin level and hematocrit (p

Aim. To assess the changes of arterial stiffness, central blood pressure (CBP), and determine the factors potentially influencing them in patients with descending thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm, in combination with hypertension, one year after endovascular aneurysm repair ((T)EVAR).Material and methods. Patients ≥18 years of age without clinically significant cardiac arrhythmias were included. Before surgery and a year later, we determined peripheral blood pressure, heart rate (HR), CBP, augmentation index (AIx), pressure at the point of maximum rise of the direct pulse wave (PT1h), time to return of the reflected pressure wave (Tr) and carotid femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV).Results. Fifty patients were included (mean age, 68±9 years; 41 men; 16 with descending thoracic aortic aneurysm, 34 with abdominal aortic aneurysm), 23 patients were reexamined. After (T)EVAR, an increase in cfPWV (+2,6 m/s, p

The presence of coronavirus-associated myocarditis remains controversial despite elevations in cardiac troponin and natriuretic peptide in many patients.Aim. To assess the morphological changes in the myocardium of patients who died due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and compare them with the intravital level of cardiac biomarkers.Material and methods. A total of 420 hospital charts and 77 autopsies of those who died from COVID-19 were analyzed. In 15 of 77 cases (19%) with histologically suspected myocarditis, an immunohistochemical examination of the myocardium with antibodies to CD3, CD45, CD8, CD68, CD34, Ang1, VWF, VEGF, HLA-DR, MHC1, C1q, VP1 of enteroviruses was performed, and in 8 patients with immunohistochemically confirmed myocarditis (10%) — polymerase chain reaction for SARS-CoV-2.Results. Hemorrhage, intramural thrombosis, necrosis of non-coronary origin, myocardial infarction and lymphocytic myocarditis were detected in 43%, 10%, 17%, 19% and 10% of cases, respectively, without coronavirus N and E gene sequences in the myocardium. Dysplasia, hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the vascular endothelium, expression of Ang1, VWF, VEGF, MHC1, C1q, VP1 of enteroviruses were determined in 100, 100, 87, 100, 75 and 62% of cases of myocarditis, respectively. There were no significant correlations between inflammatory biomarkers and myocarditis.Conclusion. The main morphological manifestation of COVID-19 in the myocardium is the so-called endotheliitis with dysplasia and endothelial activation, leading to hemorrhages, intramural thrombosis and necrosis. There is no convincing evidence of a direct involvement of coronavirus in myocarditis induction.

Aim. To prove the advantage of the long-term controlled antihypertensive therapy compared with the real usual standard therapy in patients with mild to moderate arterial hypertension.Material and methods. It was multicenter, randomized, prospective parallel-group study in patients with mild to moderate hypertension. One part of patients (treatment group) received the strongly regulated stepped antihypertensive therapy based on ACE-inhibitor spirapril, the second one (control group) continued their usual standard therapy prescribed by doctors of polyclinics or other patient care institutions. The study lasted one year.Results. 1742 patients were enrolled in the study, 854 patients were included in the treatment group and 888 – in the control group. 220 patients dropped out of the study by different reasons, and 1552 patients finished the study. There were 651 (37,6%) men and 1081 (62,4%) women. It was substantial decrease in blood pressure in both group, but distinctions between systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the treatment and control group during the study were significant.The target levels of blood pressure (systolic < 140 mm Hg and diastolic < 90 mm Hg) were registered substantially more frequent in the patients of treatment group than in control group (69,4% и 39,3% after three months and 83,6% и 66,9% after 12 months of the treatment correspondingly).Conclusion. Controlled stepped antihypertensive therapy resulted into more significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and more frequent achievement of target levels of blood pressure in comparison with control group. It supposes better prognosis of patients.

This short review is devoted to the role of α-blockers, particularly doxazosin as their typical representative, in the treatment of patients with hypertension. The role of doxazosin when used as a component of combination antihypertensive therapy in overcoming resistance to treatment is emphasized. Specific clinical conditions when doxazosin is especially effective are described.

Evaluation of the long-term stability of electrocatalysts is typically performed using galvanostatic polarization at a predefined current density. A stable or insignificant increase in the applied potential is usually interpreted as high long-term stability of the tested catalyst. However, effects such as (i) electrochemical degradation of a catalyst due to its oxidation, (ii) blocking of the catalyst surface by evolved gas bubbles, and (iii) detachment of the catalyst from the electrode surface may lead to a decrease of the catalyst's active surface area being exposed to the electrolyte. In order to separate these effects and to evaluate the true electrochemical degradation of electrocatalysts, an advanced evaluation protocol based on subsequently performed electrochemical impedance, double layer capacitance, cyclic voltammetry, and galvanostatic polarization measurements was developed and used to evaluate the degradation of IrO2 particles drop-coated on glassy carbon rotating disk electrode using Nafion as a binder. A flow-through electrochemical cell was developed enabling circulation of the electrolyte leading to an efficient removal of evolved oxygen bubbles even at high current densities of up to 250 mA/cm(2). The degradation rate of IrO2 was evaluated over 225 test cycles (0.733 ± 0.022 mV/h) with a total duration of galvanostatic polarization measurements of over 55 h.

Felis catus gammaherpesvirus 1 (FcaGHV1), recently discovered in the USA, was detected in domestic cats in Australia (11.4%, 95% confidence interval 5.9-19.1, n=110) and Singapore (9.6%, 95% confidence interval 5.9-14.6, n=176) using qPCR. FcaGHV1 qPCR positive cats were 2.8 times more likely to be sick than healthy. Risk factors for FcaGHV1 detection included being male, increasing age and coinfection with pathogenic retroviruses, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or feline leukaemia virus. FcaGHV1 DNA was detected in multiple tissues from infected cats with consistently high virus loads in the small intestine. FcaGHV1 viral load was significantly higher in FIV-infected cats compared with matched controls, mimicking increased Epstein-Barr virus loads in human immunodeficiency virus-infected humans. FcaGHV1 is endemic in distant geographic regions and is associated with being sick and with coinfections. Horizontal transmission of FcaGHV1 is supported, with biting being a plausible route. A pathogenic role for FcaGHV1 in domestic cats is supported., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)