Artery Research

White matter lesions, described as leukoaraiosis, are frequently documented in older hypertensive patients, but their consequence on brain metabolism remains debated. This study aimed at characterizing the changes in brain metabolism, assessed by [18F]-fluorodesoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography...

Objective: An Arterial Stiffness Index (ASI) can be obtained by measuring finger photoplethysmogram using the SB200 pulse oximeter, giving a level between 1 and 6. However, it was unclear whether this method accurately reflected arterial stiffness. Brachial–Ankle Pulse Wave Velocity (baPWV) is an established...

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is the main source of nitric oxide (NO) in the vascular wall, a molecule with anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, vasorelaxant, antioxidant and finally antiatherogenic properties. eNOS is expressed in vascular endothelium, and it uses l-arginine as a substrate,...

Background: Nigella Sativa (NS) induced vasorelaxation of aortic rings upon direct exposure has been documented in literature. This study was conducted to determine whether 8 weeks Nigella Sativa supplementation and/or exercise training may alter vascular sensitivity of rat aorta in normal, healthy rats. Methods:...

Background: Nowadays, cardiac disease is the most widespread reason of death in most countries such as Iran. Some studies have correlated serum uric acid level with risk of death in the patients of acute coronary syndrome. The study aimed to determine if there is any correlation between serum uric level...

A hydraulic teaching model of the human systemic circulation is proposed, based on the principles of the reservoir-wave approach. Reservoir characteristics are portrayed by the arterial tall-and-narrow and venous short-and-wide columns, the relative compliances of which are signified by their diameters....

Endothelial dysfunction is associated with the racial health disparity in vascular dysfunction in African Americans (AAs). Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 is constitutively expressed in endothelial cells (EC) and is a biomarker that has been associated with hypertension, as its properties are involved...

Background: The metabolic signature associated with subclinical diastolic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in the general population is unknown. Objectives: This population study aimed at identifying a specific profile of circulating me-tabolites associated with asymptomatic diastolic LV dysfunction. Methods:...

Objective: Pulse pressure (PP) is a complex physiologic trait affected by many variables, including LV contractility (reflected by stroke volume), arterial stiffness, and central-to-brachial amplification.The impact of age on the relationship between stroke volume and central or brachial PP has not been...

Objectives: Smoking has an unfavorable effect on arterial properties. Vascular aging is an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk. We examined the effect of quitting smoking on the progression of arterial stiffness. Methods: 142 subjects (mean age 51.9 ± 10.8 years, 94 men) with no established...

Purpose: Despite most anatomical variations of the vertebral artery (VA) related to the origin and intraforaminal entrance remain asymptomatic because of the collateral irrigation system, it is important to know their anatomical presentation in order to prevent complications than could be neurologically...

The axillary artery is the main artery supplying the shoulder region and is clinically important. In the present case we report an arterial variation of the left upper extremity of a 65 year-old female cadaver. The radial artery arose from the axillary artery 2.5 cm below the anterior humeral circumflex...

African Americans are more susceptible to develop insulin resistance, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease (CHD), and systemic inflammation is central to the pathophysiology of these chronic diseases. African Americans are also more likely to contract H. pylori (cagA) infections during...

Childhood determinants of aortic pulse wave velocity [PWV] are poorly understood. We tested how factors measured twice previously in childhood in the MRC ‘DASH’ study, particularly body mass (BMI) components and BP, affected PWV in young adults. Methods: Of 6643 London children, aged 11–13 y, from 51...

Left ventricular diastolic function declines with aging and hypertension. It is well known that elevated blood pressure results in increased arterial stiffness. The study aims to determine the relationship between arterial stiffness and left ventricular diastolic function in general population. Methods:...

Introduction: COPD is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, independent of established risk factors. Arterial stiffness is a surrogate of cardiovascular risk and we sought to determine its relationship with COPD severity and prognosis in the ERICA (Evaluation of role of inflammation in airways...

Background: Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), a marker of cardiovascular disease, is modified by both blood pressure and changes in arterial wall properties. Current cfPWV measurement does not differentiate between effects of blood pressure and arterial wall properties. Animal studies show...

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between blood pressure variability and the incidence of silent cerebral infarction (SCI) in patients with primary hypertension. Methods: The 346 hospitalized patients with primary hypertension were divided into primary hypertension group (160 cases)...

It has been recognised for nearly 200 years that the human pressure waveform changes in shape with ageing and disease. The shape of the pressure waveform has been explained in terms of two fundamental models: the Windkessel (reservoir) and wave theory. In its simplest form the Windkessel model satisfactorily...

Introduction: In wave separation analysis, the pressure wave is decomposed into a single forward and backward component, which actually compounds all forward and backward propagating waves. We hypothesize that, in particular in presence of early reflections as in aortic coarctation, re-reflection of...

Background: The Riva-Rocci brachial blood pressure (BP) method purported to measure aortic BP, and this remains the cornerstone thesis of clinical BP measurement. However, few studies have confirmed this thesis with direct BP measurements. This study aimed to determine the true differences in aortic...

Background: Arterial stiffness measured under static conditions reclassifies significantly cardiovascular (CV) risk and associates with organ damage, including narrower retinal arterioles. However, arterial stiffness exhibits diurnal variation, thus single static stiffness recordings do not correspond...

Background: Affective temperaments (depressive, anxious, cyclothymic, irritable and hyperthymic) have important role in psychopathology, but cumulating data support their involvement in vascular pathology, especially in hypertension as well. The aim of our study was to evaluate their associations with...

The aim of this research was to study the association between the gut microbiota composition and arterial wall properties. The study included 92 participants, men and women aged 25–76 years old without clinical manifestation of chronic diseases but with the possible presence of cardiovascular risk factors....

Competent elastic fibers endow central arteries with the compliance and resilience that are fundamental to their primary mechanical function in vertebrates. That is, by enabling elastic energy to be stored in the arterial wall during systole and then to be used to work on the blood during diastole, elastic...

Background: Few studies assessed arterial stiffness in Black hypertensive patients born and living in sub-Saharan Africa, where cardiovascular disease reaches epidemic proportions. Methods: The Newer versus Older Antihypertensive Agents in African Hypertensive Patients (NOAAH) trial is currently recruiting...

Background: Atherosclerosis is the disease with one of the largest mortalities of the Western world. An important cause of this high mortality rate is rupture of atherosclerotic plaques and subsequent total blockage of the vessel by thrombus. Because, plaque rupture has been associated with a distinct...

Decreases in the mean gestational age of babies born at term have been reported over the past decade in several developed countries, linked to increases in the rates of planned births by labour induction and/or pre-labour caesarean sections. In contrast to the effects of pre-term birth, the extent to...

Background: Arterial stiffening is an age-related change and is a well-known cardiovascular risk factor but its association with physical decline is rarely evaluated. The aim of this analysis was to assess the association of arterial stiffness as carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) with gait performance...

Aim: Type 2 diabetes (DM2) causes microvascular dysfunction (MVD). In addition, MVD can contribute to insulin resistance, predisposing to DM2. This hypothesis predicts that MVD should be present in impaired glucose metabolism (IGM; prediabetes). However, population-based studies of MVD and glucose metabolism...

Backward traveling waves, an important determinant of central haemodynamics, are usually regarded as being due to reflections from discontinuities in the arterial tree. However, consideration of a single tube model of the arterial with a single site of reflection shows that a backward pressure wave may...

Background: Steady state hemodynamics [Stroke Volume - SV, cardiac output, peripheral resistance (Rp)] have attracted researchers in hypertension for decades. However, due to technical difficulties, they never entered clinical medicine. Objective: To investigate the performance of a model-based algorithm,...

Sleep is a major modulator of cardiovascular function. Since it’s more difficult to maintain adequate sleep duration among night watchmen during their working schedule, so in this study, we hypothesized that, the short sleep duration (<3 h) for 7 days in their night shift schedule, may possibly influence...

A multivariable analysis identified predictors of systolic blood pressure change in SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial. Additional analyses examined the influence of medication changes, results in selected subgroups and procedural factors. Greater reductions in office and ambulatory systolic blood pressure, and...

Background: The reason for the particularly increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in diabetic women remains unclear. The purpose of our study was to prospectively investigate sex difference in carotid stiffness in elder Chinese patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: 109 T2DM...

Objective: The use of different devices and methods still hampers the widespread clinical use of the reference values for arterial stiffness. The aim of this work was therefore to create a web-based application that allows easy assessment - for different methodological approaches - of a given measured...

Background: The mechanisms underlying the development of hypertension have not yet been fully clarified. The mutual relationships among the development of hypertension and the longitudinal changes of arterial stiffness and renal function, and also the effect of maintenance of a normal body weight on...

Background: Vascular risk factors have been associated with brain aging. We aimed to determine the associations between blood pressure (BP), atherosclerosis, arterial stiffness and microvascular damage with both structural and functional measures of the brain. Methods: A community-based sample of 1287...

Objective: Cerebral lesion growth in acute ischemic stroke leads to secondary neurological deterioration and poor outcome. Whether cSBP and arterial stiffness are related to the early brain infarct growth in patients after ischemic stroke is unknown. Design and Methods: We enrolled 65 patients (43 males,...

Background: Any kind of change in the arterial wall as atherosclerosis, may be the etiologic agent of the formation of aneurysm in an artery. The aim of this study was to describe the morphological and morphometric characteristics of the aorta with aneurysm in autopsied patients in relation to age, gender,...

Background: Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) is the stable local dilatation of abdominal aorta. AAA is an inflammatory condition in which cytokines may play a pathogenic role. Methods: Peripheral Blood Mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from 5 men, with confirmed diagnosis of AAA and aortic dilation...

Clinical exercise stress testing is a common medical test performed in cardiology and exercise physiology clinics the world over. Measurement of blood pressure (BP) during testing is mandated. Whilst systolic BP should normally rise with incremental exercise, and diastolic BP remains relatively stable,...

Background: In hypertension changes in small arterial structure are characterized by an increased wall-to-lumen ratio (WLR). These adaptive processes are modulated by the renin angiotensin system. It is unclear whether direct renin inhibitors exert protective effects on small arteries in hypertensive...

The interaction between the heart and large arteries represent a not fully understood process, which results from the integration of pressure wave generation, flow ejection, wave travel and reflection, and geometric mismatch between structures. Left ventricular (LV) mass and geometry, two independent...

Objectives: Diastolic-systolic rise time characteristics of the distension waveform distribution, i.e., mean and inhomogeneity, might be modified by wave reflections from distal plaques. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between rise time characteristics for the common carotid artery...

Introduction Although pulse wave velocity (PWV), a proxy of arterial stiffness, is a strong predictor of cardiovascular complications, it is confounded by blood pressure (BP) and heart rate at the time of examination. Furthermore, establishing whether an artery is stiffened or not does not inform a...

In 4,759 participants from the Whitehall II study, we examined the impact of glycaemic history on aortic stiffening. Assessment of aortic stiffness by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) was performed twice with a 4 year interval (2007–2009 and 2012–2013). At the first aortic stiffness assessment...

Background: The assumption of steady-state oscillation is often overlooked when arterial pressure and flow waveforms are decomposed into backward (Pb) and forward waves (Pf). This has led to various misinterpretations including a significant reflection-free time during early-systole and attribution of...

Background: Mental stress, dynamic exercise and cold pressor stimulation all increase blood pressure (BP); however, their effects on arterial stiffness are not well described. Methods: Twenty-three young healthy subjects (14 female/9 males), aged 18–30 years (23 ± 3 years), underwent mental arithmetic...

Background: Venous occlusion plethysmography is commonly used to assess changes in calf blood flow (CBF). Although the leg is often positioned above the level of the heart to aid venous emptying during periods of cuff deflation, its direct effect on measured CBF is not known. We therefore planned to...

Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of mortality and morbidity in Western countries, but the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. Genetic polymorphisms, once thought to represent a major determinant of cardiovascular risk, individually and collectively, only explain a tiny fraction...

Biomedical research is increasingly based on the efforts of PhD students. This talk will trace the development of the author’s research, and show how this experience can be used to optimize PhD training. The basis of the research has been that essential hypertension is associated with increased peripheral...

Background: Brachial blood pressure (BP) may not reflect central BP due to systolic BP (SBP) amplification. Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) elicit vascular irregularities that may affect SBP amplification or other central BP indices (including pulse pressure [PP], augmentation pressure...

Blood flow imposes shear stress on endothelial cells (ECs). ECs are able to convert these mechanical stimuli into intracellular signals that affect cellular function. As deregulated autophagy is associated with an acceleration of a variety of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases where impaired flow-mediated...

Stem cell-based therapies for vascular regeneration in patients with cardiovascular ischemic diseases initially relied on a very simple concept: therapeutic stem/progenitor cells might differentiate into vascular cells, mainly of endothelial phenotype, increasing new vessel formation and tissue perfusion...

The contribution of arterial functional and structural changes to left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction has been the area of latest research. There are some studies on the relationship of arterial stiffness (a.s.) and left atrial (LA) remodeling as a marker of diastolic burden. Little is known...

Vascular calcification was regarded as an innocent bystander in cardiovascular disease. It was considered to be the passive chemical nucleation of calcium and phosphate ions on cellular debris and therefore the end-stage of atherosclerosis. Currently, vascular calcification is understood to be an actively...

Proteins are the main molecular components of the arterial wall. Alterations in the amounts of specific proteins in both the extracellular matrix and in vascular cells are believed to be associated with different arterial pathologies, however only sparse data is currently available, particularly in relation...

Background: The arterial system is viscoelastic rather than purely elastic. There exist various methods to characterize the purely elastic nature of arterial compliance, each method yielding different values. The pulse pressure method (CPPM), estimating compliance by matching the pulse pressure (PP)...

Hypertension and arterial aging engage a plethora of key signaling pathways that act in concert to induce vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotypic changes leading to vascular degeneration and extracellular matrix (ECM) changes responsible for alterations of the mechanical properties of the vascular...

Models of haemodynamics play a central role in current research directed to understanding and addressing cardiovascular disease. Although conventional windkessel and wave models are very useful, they are incompatible due to conflicting assumptions and neither comprehensively explain the basis and interdependencies...

It has been suggested that accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGE) is involved in several pathophysiological processes in the vessel wall. Soluble isoform of receptor for AGE (sRAGE) acts as a decoy for capturing circulating AGE, prevents them from binding to the cell-surface receptor and...

Accurate measurement of blood pressure (BP) is a critical goal for appropriate diagnosis and management of high BP. The measurement reference standard is brachial cuff BP, but recent large-scale meta-analyses show major deficiencies in the accuracy of this method. Indeed, irrespective of cuff technique...

Purpose: Loose endothelial cells and the destruction of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) are one of the pathophysiological mechanisms of early brain injury (EBI) after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Tie-2 receptor phosphorylation is important for maintaining integrity of microvascular endothelial cells...

The non-invasive assessment of aortic (central) pressure evolved as an emerging clinical research area over the last two decades. Several non-invasive methods and devices were developed to support these investigations. A variety of technical approaches and sites of peripheral signal acquisition have...

Vascular dysfunction may be an important pathway through which ageing and other factors, such as diabetes and obesity, can cause diseases of the heart and brain. Vascular dysfunction includes dysfunction of large arteries (due to arterial stiffness), the microcirculation (microvascular dysfunction) and...

Background: Aging is associated with increased arterial stiffness and chronic low-grade inflammation. Acute inflammatory stimulus in the presence of low-grade chronic inflammation briefly increases the risk of cardiovascular events. The risk of cardiovascular events also increases substantially in older...

Despite years of research, there are still some contentious aspects of arterial hemodynamics that have remained unresolved. These were discussed during a workshop entitled Arterial hemodynamics: past, present and future held in London on June 14 and 15, 2016, with keynote contributions by Nico Westerhof,...

Aim: In diabetes patients, we explored relationships between markers of diabetic angiopathy, diabetic complications and adverse outcome. Methods: Patients were recruited from 3 observational studies from Steno Diabetes Center, Denmark and one randomized, double-blind, international, multicentre study. We...

Introduction: Matrix Gla Protein (MGP) is highly expressed in cardiomyocytes and is upregulated after acute and chronic pressure overload and in myocardial hypertrophy in mice and humans. However, no study addressed the relation between cardiac function and MGP in humans. Methods and results: In 767...

The overall impact of glucose-lowering on vascular complications and major clinical outcomes, including mortality, in type 2 diabetes is still an open issue. While intensive glucose control has undoubted benefit for microvascular endpoints, the relationship between glucose-lowering approaches and reduced...

Take home messages 1.Both ‘Metabolic NAFLD’ and the features of insulin resistance/the metabolic syndrome (MetS) increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), even independent of obesity 2.‘Metabolic NAFLD’ and insulin resistance share common pathophysiology, which may explain their link with...

Because measurement of arterial stiffness is highly dependent on blood pressure (BP), methods independent of BP are required. Ultrafast echography (UFE, Supersonic Imagine, Aix en Provence, France) makes use of very fast sampling rate (up to 10 kHz), so transient events such as pressure wave arrival...

Microvascular and metabolic physiology are inextricably linked. Thus, metabolic dysfunction impairs microvascular function and microvascular dysfunction impairs normal metabolism. The relationship is therefore reciprocal, justifying the concept of a ‘Metabolic-Microvascular Dysregulation Syndrome’. For...

Purpose: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is an independent predictor of future cardiovascular (CV) events. Aortic pressures (central) and low testosterone independently predict future CV events and mortality. The relationship between testosterone, central pressures and wave reflection indices in ED patients...

Background: Central blood pressure (CBP) is a better predictor of cardiovascular burden than peripheral blood pressure (BP). While studies have suggested a reduction in peripheral BP with statins, it remains uncertain to what extent statins reduce CBP and whether this reduction is mediated through a...

In the preclinical setting, Angiotensin-II infusion has been the most popular model for mouse aneurysm research in the last 15 years. Nonetheless, little is known about the ascending aortic aneurysm pathobiology of this model and several lingering questions regarding the abdominal aortic aneurysm pathology...

Objectives: Masked hypertension (MH) is associated with hypertension-related markers of organ damage, but is undetectable by clinic (resting) BP. Exaggerated systolic BP response to submaximal exercise reveals MH in adults, but it is unknown whether this is the case during adolescence. We aimed to determine...

Many inflammatory conditions are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality. As well as accelerated atherosclerosis, increased plaque instability and endothelial dysfunction; arterial stiffness has been proposed as one of the potential mechanisms underlying the increased...

We aimed at evaluating the anthropometric and hemodynamic factors associated with central pulse pressure (cPP), peripheral pulse pressure (pPP) and central-to-peripheral PP amplification (PPamp) in healthy adolescents. We studied 459 subjects (boys 57%, 16.8 ± 1.5 y) attending the Liceo Donatelli High...

Background: So far, in the stress calculation of the plaques, the blood has been simulated as a single component, and the role of the mechanical interaction between the red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and plasma with that of the plaque has been neglected. This study was aimed at proposing...

Background: Obesity is considered an important factor contributing to premature arterial stiffening in type 2 diabetes but it is uncertain whether weight loss through dietary modification leads to a reduction in arterial stiffness. Rimonabant is an anti-obesity drug which, through its pharmacological...

Background: The urinary proteomic classifier CKD273 has been found to predict diabetic nephropathy development in advance of microalbuminuria. Whether it is also a determinant of mortality and cardiovascular disease in patients with established albuminuria is unknown. Methods: We studied 155 subjects...

Background: Relative (represented by pulsatility) as well as absolute (pulse pressure) changes of central blood pressure (BP) were shown to predict cardiovascular (CV) complications in coronary patients. However, the influence of diabetes (a major CV risk factor) on the values of BP-derived indices is...

Background: Recent studies showing an inverse association between estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), a microvascular trait, and inactive desphospho-uncarboxylated matrix Gla protein (dp-ucMGP) support the hypothesis that after vitamin K dependent activation MGP is renoprotective, but were limited...

Central obesity is an important cause of cardiovascular disease. It’s well-known that aortic pulse wave velocity (aoPWV) is a strong predictor of cardiovascular events. However the potential correlation between fat accumulation and increased arterial stiffness is poorly investigated. The aim of this...

Background: The heart ejects in the central elastic arteries. No previous study addressed the question whether ECG voltages are more closely associated with central than with peripheral blood pressure (BP). Methods: Using the oscillometric Mobil-O-Graph 24 h PWA monitor, we measured brachial, central...

Purpose: Erectile dysfunction (ED) confers an independent risk for cardiovascular events and total mortality. Central pressures and wave reflection indices independently predict cardiovascular events. Aim of this study is to investigate whether central haemodynamics predict major adverse cardiovascular...