Cardiac function

and geometry was determined echocardiographically and the hearts were excised for molecular and immunohistochemical analyses. Echocardiographic studies revealed that four weeks of RAS-stimulation incited a cardiac remodeling process selleckchem characterized by increased left ventricular (LV) wall thickness, decreased LV volumes, and shortening of the left ventricle. Hypertrophic genes were highly upregulated, whereas in substantial activation a fibrotic response was absent. Four weeks after withdrawal of I3C, (pro)renin levels were normalized in all IHR. While in adult IHR BP returned to normal, hypertension was sustained in young IHR. Despite the latter, myocardial hypertrophy was fully regressed in both young and adult IHR. We conclude that (pro)renin-induced severe hypertension in IHR causes an age-independent fully reversible myocardial concentric hypertrophic Pitavastatin supplier remodeling, despite a continued elevated BP in young IHR.”
“The recent failure of coronary prevention with torcetrapib, a major inhibitor of the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) system, indicated that this therapeutic approach is disputable. Evaluation of prior knowledge confirms that the rationale of CETP inhibition appears to be weak, thus leading to the general conclusion that a rise in HDL-C levels does not necessarily reflect

a better reverse cholesterol transfer system and vice versa. While raising HDL by a variety of pharmaceutical approaches may provide a desirable target, CETP inhibitory treatment is potentially harmful. While torcetrapib raises blood pressure, as underlined by a number of authors, this does not appear to provide a satisfactory explanation for the failure of this treatment, whereas the dramatic increase of cancer and life-threatening CUDC-907 cost infections in torcetrapib-treated patients gives a serious warning. By contrast, CETP stimulation has recently provided interesting openings for a successful approach to cardiovascular prevention.

In particular, re-evaluation of data on probucol clearly suggest that this drug, while lowering HDL-C because of its mechanism of action, can also reduce carotid intima-media thickness and cause negative arterial remodeling in atherosclerotic conditions. By this last mechanism, probucol would not increase arterial lumen, but could clearly reduce the risk of acute coronary syndromes.”
“Objective: About half the patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) in China need to be assisted by family members or home assistants. We explored whether these patients have a higher risk for peritonitis and death compared with self-care PD patients.

Methods: We prospectively followed 313 incident PD patients until death or censoring. This cohort was divided into assisted and self-care PD groups according to the independence of bag exchange.