Serum apelin levels and cardiovascular diseases

Apelin is a G protein-linked receptor endogenous ligand, synthesized as a 77-amino acid pre-propeptide. Increased expression of apelin is present in many cardiovascular (CV) tissues, including cardiomyocytes. It is a peripheral vasodilator and one of the most potent stimulants of ventricular contraction. Apelin may be a valuable therapeutic for both blood pressure regulation and myocardial performance. More information is needed for the CV pathophysiology of apelin. We will discuss the importance of apelin level in CV diseases in this review

Relation of multicenter automatic defibrillator implantation trial implantable cardioverter-defibrillator score with long-term cardiovascular events in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillator

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that multicenter automatic defibrillator implantation trial (MADIT) - implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) scores predict replacement requirement and appropriate shock in a mixed population including both primary and secondary prevention and long-term adverse cardiovascular events. METHODS: The study has a retrospective design. Patients who were implanted with ICD in the cardiology clinic of Atatürk University Faculty of Medicine between 2000 and 2013 were included in the study. For this purpose, 1394 patients who were implanted with a device in our clinic were reviewed. Then, those who were implanted with permanent pacemaker (n=1005), cardiac resynchronization treatment (CRT) (n=45) and CRT-ICD (n=198) were excluded. RESULTS: A total of 146 patients (98 males, 67.1%) with a mean age of 61.1 (±14.8) years were recruited. The median follow-up time was 21.5 months (mean 30.6±25.9 months; minimum 4 months, and maximum 120 months). The median MADIT-ICD scores in the patients were 2. MADIT-ICD scores were categorized as low in 15.1%, intermediate in 57.5%, and high score in 27.4% of patients. Accordingly, MADIT-ICD scores (1.29 [1.00–1.68], p=0.050), hemoglobin (0.86 [0.75–0.99], p=0.047), and left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) (0.97 [0.94–0.99], p=0.023) were determined as independent predictors of major adverse cardiovascular events in the long-term follow-up of ICD-implanted population. CONCLUSION: In this study, we showed that there was an independent association of long-term adverse cardiovascular events with MADIT-ICD score, hemoglobin, and EF in patients implanted with ICD