Active clinical trials for "Atherosclerosis"

The purpose of this study is to collect data on the body's breakdown of sugar and fat in HIV infected adults. Data from this study will make clearer the roles of HIV infection and anti-HIV drugs in the development of diabetes, heart disease, and fat redistribution in HIV infected adults.

The study will assess the serum expression of MMP-9 in normal people, type 2 diabetic patients and type 2 diabetic patients with atherosclerosis.

The purpose of the study is to collect acoustic, ECG, and clinical data from consenting participants, so that AusculSciences can perform analysis on the sounds produced by the heart and determine the accuracy of the CAD-det System for detecting CAD.

The association between inflammation and atherosclerosis is widely known. An increase in morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular (CV) disease in inflammatory rheumatic diseases has been proved [1-4]. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has the greatest CV impact. Scientific societies and expert groups have developed recommendations for preventing cardiovascular risk in these patients [5, 6]. It has also been observed an increased CV risk and greater morbidity in other inflammatory rheumatic diseases such as Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and inflammatory bowel disease(IBD) [1, 7n, 8]. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a systemic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology that mainly involves the axial skeleton causing the spine, sacroiliac joints arthritis, and peripheral joints arthritis. Its peak age of onset is between 20-30 years affecting young males with the involvement of extra-articular structures such as eyes, kidneys, heart, lung, vessels, and nerves [9,10]. Aortitis and aortic regurgitation are cardiovascular complications associated with AS. AS is associated with up to 50% mortality rates and cardiovascular diseases are the main causes of these high mortality rates[10,11].

In this study, the investigators will determine whether patients with elevated levels of LDL are characterized by specific epigenetic changes in circulating cells of the innate immune system, compared to control subjects with healthy levels of LDL and whether regular statin treatment influences these changes.

Currently, cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is a well-implemented non-invasive diagnostic imaging modality in patients with stable chest pain. Besides conventional CT-reading, CCTA is also capable to identify several morphologic and geometric characteristics of atherosclerotic plaques. Recently, the investigators showed that the use of semi-automated plaque quantification algorithm identified parameters predictive for acute coronary syndrome on top of clinical risk profiling and conventional CT-reading. In addition, several atherotrombosis biomarkers, like high-sensitivity cardiac troponins, are described as related to coronary artery disease and cardiovascular events. Prospective data with sequential analysis of atherosclerotic plaques combined with different atherothrombosis biomarkers are currently lacking, but will provide important clues about the pathophysiology of plaque progression and atherothrombosis.

Visceral fat or peri-omental fat is increasingly associated with metabolic syndrome, a condition carrying a high risk of coronary artery disease. The independent role of Visceral Fat in cardiovascular risk remains unclear. Patients with excess of visceral fat and NAFLD patients will have higher prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis plaques independently by metabolic syndrome diagnosis. Suggesting that the presence of visceral fat and/or fatty liver will be considered an important condition to optimize the cardiovascular risk stratification

The aim of this study is to develop non-invasive MRI, and MRS approaches that will quantify the plaque composition and lipid content of plaques and will have the potential for repeated in vivo measurements. To investigate sensitivity and specificity of 3.0 Tesla MRI and MRS for dimension and composition assessment of carotid artery plaques, in particularly those plaques with lipid rich necrotic cores. This non-invasive cross-sectional study, compares carotid parameters of in-vivo 3.0 Tesla MRI, MRS and B-mode ultrasound with histology specimens collected at endarterectomy.

Since finishing the sequencing of the human genome in 2003, genetic research in coronary artery disease (CAD) and other complex traits have developed dramatically. Recent genome-wide association studies have identified a considerable number of common genetic variants each associated with the disease. This has led to a new understanding but also to the discovery of new therapeutical targets. However, each of the variants discovered only have minor effects on disease development and even the pooling of the variants only explains a minor percentage of the total heritability. It has been evident that rare or private mutations probably play a great role in the genetic architecture of CAD, especially among young and severely affected patients. These may only be identified by sequencing. Therefore, the investigators hypothesize, that the use of exome sequencing (the read-off of the entire protein-coding regions of the genome) and linkage analysis in families of extreme phenotype cases, will identify disease-causing genetic variants. From the West Denmark Heart Registry the investigators will enroll a minimum of 120 patients with atherosclerosis who have undergone a coronary artery revascularization procedure before the age of 40, to participate in study part 1. A pedigree analysis will be performed and cardiovascular (CVD) risk factors and current preventive treatment will be evaluated. 1. degree relatives aged 30-65 years, who are free of CAD, are invited to participate in study 2. CVD risk factors are evaluated as well as a CT coronary angiogram is performed to quantify the degree of asymptomatic coronary atherosclerosis. Families from study 1 and 2, who are considered severely affected by atherosclerosis, evaluated on a basis of family size, number of affected and severity of disease, will be selected for exome sequencing. Other relevant family members will be included as well as their CVD risk factors will be evaluated. Exome sequencing will be performed and variants found will be filtered on a basis of frequency, linkage analysis, gene position, existing knowledge and in-silico prediction tools. Possible findings will be validated by Sanger-sequencing and causality of new variants will subsequently be sought to be proven by relevant experimental studies.

The epidemic data shows that prehypertension is associated with cardiovascular disease, and heavy dietary salt intake could improve the developing of hypertension. We detected the risk factors of coronary atherosclerosis of prehypertensive patients with different levels of salt intake. The aim of this multicenter prospective, randomized controlled study is to evaluate regular physical exercise and salt diet effects on progression of coronary artery disease in patients with prehypertension.