Publications

Background Coronary artery lumen volume (V) to myocardial mass (M) ratio (V/M) can show the mismatch between epicardial coronary arteries and the underlying myocardium. Methods The V, M and V/M were obtained from the coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) of patients in the FAST-TRACK CABG study, the first-in-human trial of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) guided solely by CCTA and fractional flow reserve derived from CCTA (FFRCT) in patients with complex coronary artery disease (CAD). The correlations between V/M ratios and baseline characteristics were determined and compared with those from the ADVANCE registry, an unselected cohort of historical controls with chronic CAD. Results The V/M ratio was obtained in 106 of the 114 pre-CABG CCTAs. Mean age was 65.6 years and 87% of them were male. The anatomical SYNTAX score from CCTA was significantly higher than the functional SYNTAX score derived using FFRCT [43.1 (15.2) vs 41.1 (16.5), p ​< ​0.001]. Mean V, M, and V/M were 2204 ​mm3, 137 ​g, and 16.5 ​mm3/g, respectively. There were weak negative correlations between V and anatomical and functional SYNTAX scores (Pearson's r ​= ​−0.26 and −0.34). V and V/M had a strong correlation (r ​= ​0.82). The V/M ratio in the current study was significantly lower than that in the ADVANCE registry (median 16.1 vs. 24.8 [1st quartile 20.1]). Conclusion Systematically smaller V/M ratios were found in this population with severe CAD requiring CABG compared to an unselected cohort with chronic CAD. The V/M ratio could provide additional non-invasive assessment of CAD especially when combined with FFRCT.

No abstract is provided for this article.

Abstract IL-17A and IL-17F are both involved in the pathogenesis of neutrophilic inflammation observed in COPD and severe asthma. To explore this, mice deficient in both Il17a and Il17f and wild type (WT) mice were exposed to cigarette smoke or environmental air for 5 to 28 days and changes in inflammatory cells in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid were determined. We also measured the mRNA expression of keratinocyte derived chemokine ( Kc ), macrophage inflammatory protein-2 ( Mip2) , granulocyte–macrophage colony stimulating factor ( Gmcsf) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 ( Mmp9 ) in lung tissue after 8 days, and lung morphometric changes after 24 weeks of exposure to cigarette smoke compared to air-exposed control animals. Macrophage counts in BAL fluid initially peaked at day 8 and again on day 28, while neutrophil counts peaked between day 8 and 12 in WT mice. Mice dual deficient with Il17a and 1l17f showed similar kinetics with macrophages and neutrophils, but cell numbers at day 8 and mRNA expression of Kc , Gmcsf and Mmp9 were significantly reduced. Furthermore, airspaces in WT mice became larger after cigarette smoke exposure for 24 weeks, whereas this was not seen dual Il17a and 1l17f deficient mice. Combined Il17a and Il17f deficiency resulted in significant attenuation of neutrophilic inflammatory response and protection against structural lung changes after long term cigarette smoke exposure compared with WT mice. Dual IL-17A/F signalling plays an important role in pro-inflammatory responses associated with histological changes induced by cigarette smoke exposure.

To investigate the prognostic implications of the presence of severe lesion calcification in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) operation.There is robust evidence that lesion calcification is a predictor of worse prognosis in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention; however, there is limited data about the prognostic implication of lesion calcium in patients treated with CABG.We retrospectively analyzed data from 1,545 patients who underwent CABG and were recruited in the SYNTAX study and CABG registry. Two experts reviewed the angiographic data and classified patients in two groups: those with severely calcified coronary arteries and those without severe lesion calcification. Clinical outcomes at 5-year follow-up were collected and compared in the two groups.One out of three patients exhibited severe lesion calcification (n = 588). Patients with calcified coronaries had an increased mortality at 5-year follow-up (17.1% vs. 9.9%, P < 0.001) and a higher event rate of death-myocardial infarction (MI) compared with those without (19.4% vs. 13.2%, P = 0.003), but there was no statistical significant difference between the two groups for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, 26.8% vs. 21.8%, P = 0.057). In multivariate Cox regression analysis severe lesion calcification was an independent predictor of an increased all-cause mortality (hazard ratio: 1.39, 95% confidence interval: 1.02-1.89; P = 0.037) but it was not an independent predictor of the combined end-points death-MI or MACE.Severe lesion calcification is associated with an increased mortality in patients undergoing CABG, but it is not an independent predictor of death-MI or MACE. This paradox can be attributed to the fact that CABG allows perfusion of the healthy coronaries bypassing the diseased arteries and thus it minimizes the risk of coronary events due to progressive atherosclerosis.

Incubation of purified human eosinophil granulocytes (greater than 93%) with the platelet activating factor (PAF), led at concentrations of 1 pM to 10 microM, to a non-cytotoxic and dose-dependent liberation of proteins both from the "small" and the "specific" granules. The mean EC50 for this PAF-induced effect was 1.47 nM (n = 9), with a maximum at 100 nM PAF. The degranulating effect of PAF can be inhibited competitively by the specific PAF-receptor antagonist, WEB 2086 (KB between 12 and 13 nM), and is Ca2(+)-dependent.

This is a study of the existence of bifurcation branches for the problem of finding even, periodic solutions in fourth-order, reversible Hamiltonian systems such that the Hamiltonian evaluates to zero along each solution on the branch. The class considered here is a generalization of both the Swift--Hohenberg and extended Fisher--Kolmogorov equations that have been studied in several recent papers. We obtain the existence of local bifurcations from a trivial solution under mild restrictions on the nonlinearity and obtain existence and disjointness results regarding the global nature of the resulting bifurcating continua for the case where the Hamiltonian has a single-well potential. The local results rest on two abstract bifurcation theorems which also have applications to sixth-order problems and which show that the curves of zero-Hamiltonian solutions are contained within two-dimensional manifolds of solutions of both negative and positive Hamiltonian.

Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of everolimus-eluting stents (EES) in comparison with bare-metal stents (BMS), sirolimus-eluting stents (SES), and paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) on the 6-month clinical outcomes in an all-comer population. Background EES have been shown to be effective in the context of randomized trials with selected patients. The effect of EES implantation in more complex, unselected patients cannot be directly extrapolated from these findings. Methods In total, 649 consecutive unselected patients treated exclusively with EES were enrolled. Six-month clinical end points were compared with 3 historical cohorts (BMS, n = 450; SES, n = 508; and PES, n = 576). Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were defined as a composite of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, or target vessel revascularization (TVR). Results The patients treated with EES were older, presented more frequently with acute myocardial infarction, and had more complicated lesions than the other groups. The EES group demonstrated a higher incidence of all-cause mortality than the SES group and a lower incidence of TVR than the BMS group. Multivariate adjustment demonstrated that BMS was associated with higher TVR and MACE risk than EES (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] for TVR: 2.02 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11 to 3.67]; adjusted HR for MACE: 2.15 [95% CI: 1.36 to 3.42]); that SES had a clinical outcome similar to that of EES, and that PES had a higher risk of MACE than did EES (adjusted HR: 1.57 [95% CI: 1.02 to 2.44]). Conclusions This study suggests that the use of EES in an unselected population may be as safe as and more effective than BMS, may be as safe and effective as SES, may be as safe as PES, and may be more effective than PES.

By providing valuable information about the coronary artery wall and lumen, intravascular imaging may aid in optimizing interventional procedure results and thereby could improve clinical outcomes following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a light‐based technology with a tissue penetration of approximately 1 to 3 mm and provides near histological resolution. It has emerged as a technological breakthrough in intravascular imaging with multiple clinical and research applications. OCT provides detailed visualization of the vessel following PCI and provides accurate assessment of post‐procedural stent performance including detection of edge dissection, stent struts apposition, tissue prolapse, and healing parameters. Additionally, it can provide accurate characterization of plaque morphology and provides key information to optimize post‐procedural outcomes. This manuscript aims to review the current clinical and research applications of intracoronary OCT and summarize the analytic OCT imaging software packages currently available. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The International Journal of Advanced Steel Construction provides a platform for the publication and rapid dissemination of original and up-to-date research and technological developments in steel construction, design and analysis.

Objectives. To characterize predictors of restenosis after successful directional atherectomy, we reviewed the clinical, angiographic and procedural data obtained 132 consecutive procedures. Methods. Clinical and angiographic follow-up data were obtained in a prospectively collected and consecutive series of 125 patients who underwent 132 atherectomy procedures for de novo (89%) or restenotic (11%) lesions in native coronary arteries. Restenosis was assessed clinically and by quantitative coronary angiography. A dual approach to data analysis was taken to gain insight into factors affecting the clinical outcome and vessel wall healing response. Therefore, multivariate analysis was performed to 1) determine the correlates of residual lumen diameter at follow-up (angiographic outcome), and 2) characterize the determinants of the late lumen loss (renarrowing process). Results. Clinical and angiographic follow-up data after successful atherectomy were obtained in 100% and 95%, respectively. Atherectomy achieved an acute lumen gain of 1.28 ± 0.48 mm (mean ± SD), resulting in a minimal lumen diameter of 2.44 ± 0.47 mm. At follow-up, the minimal lumen diameter decreased to 1.78 ± 0.64 mm. The angiographic restenosis rate was 28% if the traditional 50% stenosis cutoff criterion was applied. Larger vessel size and postatherectomy minimal lumen diameter and right coronary or left circumflex artery lesions were independent predictors of a larger minimal lumen diameter (angiographic outcome). Lumen loss during follow-up (renarrowing process) was independently predicted by relative lumen gain and preprocedural minimal lumen diameter. Conclusions. In analyzing the long-term results of new interventional techniques such as directional atherectomy, the late lumen loss during follow-up (renarrowing process), which is characterized by the vessel wall healing response after an intervention, should be considered together with the residual lumen at follow-up (clinical outcome). It is clear that whereas improved clinical outcome is associated with larger vessel size and postprocedural lumen diameter and non-left anterior descending artery location, greater relative gain at intervention is predictive of more extensive lumen renarrowing.