Epicardial fat thickness is associated with severity of disease in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

OBJECTIVE: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are common in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the BODE index is an important tool for the prognostic assessment of COPD patients. It is well known that epicardial fat thickness (EFT) is related to CVD. However, there are very few data about the relationship between EFT and BODE index. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between EFT and BODE index in patients with COPD. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We prospectively included 157 patients with COPD and 45 controls in the present study. All patients underwent pulmonary function tests and six-minute walking test. EFT and other echocardiographic parameters were measured using transthoracic echocardiography on admission. Patients were divided into four quartiles according to the BODE index scores (Quartile-1 (Q1): 0-2 points; Quartile-2 (Q2): 3-4 points; Quartile-3 (Q3): 5-6 points; Quartile-4 (Q4): 7-10 points). High sensitive C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP) and other biochemical parameters were measured in all participants. RESULTS: COPD patients had higher EFT values compared with control group (p<0.05). When COPD patients were classified according to BODE index quartiles, the highest EFT values were observed in Q1 compared with other quartiles (p<0.05, for all). EFT values showed a decreasing trend from Q1 to Q4. Furthermore, EFT was independently associated with BODE index (ß=0.405, p<0.001), Hs-CRP (ß=0.300, p<0.001) and diabetes (ß=0.338, p<0.001) in multivariate linear regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggested that EFT is independently and negatively associated with the severity of disease as indicated by BODE index in patients with COPD.

Coronary collateral circulation in patients with chronic coronary total occlusion; its relationship with cardiac risk markers and SYNTAX score.

BACKGROUND: Compared to patients without a collateral supply, long-term cardiac mortality is reduced in patients with well-developed coronary collateral circulation (CCC). Cardiovascular risk markers, such as N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and high-sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) are independent predictors for cardiovascular mortality. OBJECTIVES: The main goal of this study was to examine the relationship between CCC and cardiovascular risk markers. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 427 stable coronary artery disease patients with chronic total occlusion (mean age: 57.5±11.1 years). The patients were divided into two groups, according to their Rentrop scores: (a) poorly developed CCC group (Rentrop 0 and 1) and (b) well-developed CCC group (Rentrop 2 and 3). NT-proBNP, hs-CRP, hs-cTnT, uric acid and other biochemical markers were also measured. The SYNTAX score was calculated for all patients. RESULTS: The patients in the poorly developed CCC group had higher frequencies of diabetes and hypertension (p<0.05 for both). Compared to the well-developed CCC group, the SYNTAX score, Hs-cTnT, hs-CRP, NT-proBNP, uric acid, neutrophil count and mean platelet volume (MPV) values were higher in patients with poorly developed CCC (p<0.05 for all). On multivariate logistic regression analysis, hs-cTnT (ß=0.658, 95% CI=0.589-0.735, p<0.001) and NT-proBNP (ß=0.991, 95% CI=0.987-0.995, p<0.001) as well as hs-CRP and diabetes were independent predictors of CCC. CONCLUSION: Cardiac risk markers, such as NT-proBNP, hs-cTnT and hs-CRP are independently associated with CCC in stable coronary artery disease with chronic total occlusion.

[Signs of diabetic cardiomyopathy in patients with controlled arterial hypertension and early postprandial hyperglycemia].

AIM: To study signs of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) in nondiabetic patients with controlled arterial hypertension (AH) and glycemic response during first hour of glucose tolerance test (GTT). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients (n = 47) with controlled AH were divided into 2 groups according to results of GTT with 75 g of glucose: patients of group 1 (n = 22) had glucose level ≤ 200 mg/dl during 1-st hour of GTT; other patients (n = 25) composed group 2. Examination of all patients included transthoracic echocardiography, ultrasound Dopplerography, tissue Doppler (TD) and 24-hour Holter ECG monitoring. Using data of these methods we calculated left ventricular (LV) mass and the following characteristics of mitral ring: E/A, TD e', TD a', TD s', TD e'/a'/. The following characteristics of heart rate variability were obtained: standard deviation of normal RR intervals (SDNN), low and high frequency (LF, HF) power, LF/HF ratio. RESULTS: Patients of group 2 had higher LV mass (229.5 ± 58.2 vs. 192.1 ± 50.6 g; p = 0.036), more pronounced changes of TD e'/a' (0.71 ± 0.25 vs. 1.06 ± 0.58; p = 0.011), lower SDNN both during day (85.4 ± 14.1 vs. 112.5 ± 31.3 ms, p = 0.007) and night (82.2 ± 22.1 vs. 105.9 ± 28.5 ms, p = 0,004) time, higher nocturnal LF/HF ratio (3.75 ± 4.02 vs. 1.72 ± 0.81, p = 0,029). CONCLUSION: In patients with controlled arterial hypertension (AH) and glycemic response during first hour of GCT we revealed various pronounced manifestations of DCM. These data constitute a basis for further studies.

Gamma glutamyl transferase activity: relationship with thoracic aortic intima media thickness and inflammation.

OBJECTIVE: Increased serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) activity is known to be associated with atherosclerotic diseases. Thoracic aortic intima-media thickness (IMT) was reported as a marker of preclinical atherosclerosis. However, there is a lack of research directly examining the relationship between serum GGT activity and thoracic aortic IMT. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between serum GGT activity and thoracic aortic IMT. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study population consisted of 329 patients without coronary artery disease, who underwent transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) examination for various indications from January 2011 to April 2013. GGT, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and other biochemical markers were measured in all patients. The patients were classified into tertiles according to their GGT activities (GGTlow < 19 U/l, GGTmid ≥ 19 U/l < 29 U/l, and GGThigh ≥ 29). RESULTS: The highest aortic IMT values were observed in the GGThigh group compared with the GGTmid and GGTlow groups (p < 0.05, for all). Also, aortic IMT values in the GGTmid group were higher than in the GGTlow group (p < 0.05). Multivariate regression analysis showed that GGT activity was independently associated with aortic IMT (ß = 0.487, p < 0.001) hs-CRP (ß = 0.282, p < 0.001), and triglyceride level (ß = 0.161, p = 0.007). CONCLUSION: The higher serum GGT concentrations within the "normal" range were associated with a greater IMT of the thoracic aorta. GGT activity may be a predictor of the extent of subclinical aortic atherosclerosis assessed with thoracic aortic IMT.

Serum uric acid and slow coronary flow in cardiac syndrome X.

OBJECTIVE: It has been recently shown that cardiac syndrome X (CSX) patients with slow coronary flow (SCF) have a worse long-term prognosis than those with normal coronary flow. Increased uric acid levels were shown to be associated with atherosclerosis, oxidative stress, and endothelial dysfunction. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between coronary flow assessed with TIMI frame count (TFC) and serum uric acid (SUA) levels in patients with CSX. METHODS: The study population consisted of 113 consecutive patients with typical cardiac CSX and 41 controls without cardiac CSX. Frequencies of risk factors as well as biochemical and hematological data were recorded for all participants. Coronary blood flow was evaluated by TFC. All patients with a TFC greater than two standard deviations from the published normal range for any one of the three vessels were accepted as having slow coronary flow (SCF group), while those whose TFC values fell within the standard deviation of the published normal range for all of the three vessels were considered to have normal coronary flow. RESULTS: Of the 113 CSX patients enrolled, 40 (35.4%) had SCF. The mean TFC value was strongly positively correlated with SUA level, but weakly correlated with male sex, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, serum creatinine level, and hemoglobin. Multivariate regression analysis showed that only the SUA level was independently associated with SCF. The cut-off value for uric acid obtained by the ROC curve analysis was 4.55 mg/dl for the prediction of SCF (sensitivity, 77.5%; specificity, 73.6%). CONCLUSION: The SUA level is independently associated with SCF in patients with CSX.

Trehalose, glycogen and ethanol metabolism in the gcr1 mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Since Gcr1p is pivotal in controlling the transcription of glycolytic enzymes and trehalose metabolism seems to be one of the control points of glycolysis, we examined trehalose and glycogen synthesis in response to 2% glucose pulse during batch growth in gcr1 (glucose regulation-1) mutant lacking fully functional glycolytic pathway and in the wild-type strain. An increase in both trehalose and glycogen stores was observed 1 and 2 h after the pulse followed by a steady decrease in both the wild-type and the gcr1 mutant. The accumulation was faster while the following degradation was slower in gcr1 cells compared to wild-type ones. Although there was no distinct glucose consumption in the mutant cells it seemed that the glucose repression mechanism is similar in gcr1 mutant and in wild-type strain at least with respect to trehalose and glycogen metabolism.