Association between adiponectin levels and coronary heart disease and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Our aim was to systematically review prospective studies of the association of plasma adiponectin levels with the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) events, cardiovascular mortality and all-cause mortality. METHODS: We searched Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and CINAHL for reports published through October 2011. Search terms included 'adiponectin' AND 'cardiovascular disease' OR 'mortality'. We included prospective studies lasting more than 1 year with plasma adiponectin levels at baseline and all-cause mortality and/or major cardiovascular morbidity and mortality as outcomes. We used a random-effects model to pool the data and conducted additional subgroup meta-analyses according to the pre-existence of CHD. Pooled relative risk (RR) was estimated by a 1-SD increase in the logarithmically transformed circulating adiponectin levels. RESULTS: A total of 24 prospective studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled RR of adiponectin for CHD events (23 studies) was 1.03 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00, 1.06]. In subgroup analyses, the RR of adiponectin was 0.99 (95% CI: 0.94, 1.03) for new-onset CHD (17 studies), but there was an increased risk (RR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.22) for CHD recurrence (seven studies). A 10% increased risk (RR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.16) of all-cause mortality (six studies) and a 14% increased risk (RR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.23) of cardiovascular disease mortality (five studies) were observed. CONCLUSIONS: No association was observed between adiponectin levels and CHD events. Our results suggest that higher circulating adiponectin levels may be associated with an increased risk of CHD recurrence and all-cause/CVD mortality.

Cardiac responses to the intrapericardial delivery of metoprolol: targeted delivery compared to intravenous administration.

Anti-arrhythmic drugs have narrow therapeutic ranges and typically can engender harmful side effects. The intrapericardial (IP) delivery of anti-arrhythmic agents proposes to achieve higher myocardial levels while minimizing plasma concentrations, thus diminishing systemic side effects. Furthermore, IP delivery enables concentrations at the target site to be more precisely controlled. Our study objective was to compare the relative cardiac effects of intrapericardial administration of metoprolol to standard intravenous (IV) delivery in a swine surgical model. In order to answer the question of how IP metoprolol affects sinus tachycardia, atrial electrophysiology, and pharmacokinetics compared with IV delivery, a medial sternotomy was performed on 21 swine that were divided into three groups: (1) After inducing sinus tachycardia, metoprolol boluses were delivered IP (n = 4) or IV (n = 4); (2) metoprolol was administered either IP (n = 3) or IV (n = 3) with saline controls (n = 3), and electrophysiologic data were collected; (3) metoprolol levels were tracked both in the blood (IV, n = 2) and pericardial (IP, n = 2) fluid. After either IP or IV delivery of metoprolol, heart rates were lowered significantly to 70% and 73% of control rate, respectively. The therapeutic effect of IV-administered metoprolol was considerably reduced after 1 h but was sustained longer in the IP group. Additionally, ventricular contractility and mean arterial pressure parameters were significantly lower in IV-treated animals but were nearly unaffected in IP-treated animals. With IP administration, the elimination half-life of metoprolol in pericardial fluid was 14.4 min with negligible accumulations in the plasma, whereas with IV delivery, the elimination half-life in plasma was 11.1 min with negligible amounts found in the pericardial fluid. The targeted intrapericardial delivery of metoprolol effectively lowers heart rates for sustained periods of time, with minimal effect on either ventricular contractility or mean arterial pressure. We did not observe dramatic changes in induced atrial fibrillation times or refractory periods using this model.

Obesity is the only independent factor associated with ultrasound-diagnosed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a cross-sectional case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: There is increasing interest in ultrasound-diagnosed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the ambulatory care setting. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical and metabolic features of ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD patients who had not consumed alcohol for at least the previous 3 months were matched with 100 controls by age and gender distribution. Clinical, biochemical, and nutritional variables were compared between the ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD patients and the controls. Conditional logistic regression analyses were used to identify independent factors associated with ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD. RESULTS: The ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD patients had higher values on the anthropometric measurements than those of the controls. Aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT), alanine aminotransferase (ALAT), uric acid, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase levels were higher in the ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD patients than those in the controls (p<0.001). The ASAT/ALAT ratio of the ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD patients was lower than that of the controls (p<0.001). Total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, non-HDL-cholesterol, atherogenic index, fasting glucose, systolic blood pressure (BP), diastolic BP, and pulse pressure were higher in the ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD patients than in the control subjects, while lipoprotein(a) was lower. There were no significant differences in low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol levels or nutritional intake between patients and controls. Abnormal ASAT or ALAT, hypertriglyceridemia, lower HDL-cholesterol levels, silent myocardial ischemic pattern on electrocardiogram (ECG), impaired fasting glucose, and obesity were common among the ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD patients. The only independent factor associated with ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD was obesity (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that NAFLD diagnosed by ultrasound is associated with hypertriglyceridemia, impaired fasting glucose, silent myocardial ischemic pattern of ECG, obesity, and abnormal liver tests in adults. Among these factors, obesity was the only independent factor associated with ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD.

Modeling drop shape on contaminated surfaces or surfaces with physical structures.

Surface contaminants are commonly found on films. They get transferred to the surface from incompletely cured silicone liners on the films or owing to migration of additives to the surface from within the film. During the process of ink jet printing (a noncontact printing process), surface contamination affects the shape of the drops (causing the formation of fingers and crescents) and hence image quality. This study uses modeling methods to examine how such surface contamination affects the drops shapes. Subsequently, it models the effect of surface structures (pits) on the drop shape. This study explores how image quality can be controlled in the presence of surface contamination and surface structures.