Benefícios do ômega 3 na prevenção de doença cardiovascular: Revisão integrativa de literatura

Introduction: Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids such as alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a fat found in plant foods, and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), both found in fish, have been considered relevant substances for the maintenance of health, so that supplementation is being considered relevant for the reduction of cardiovascular risks. Objective: To identify and analyze the scientific evidence available in the literature on the contribution of omega 3 in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Materials and Methods: Integrative literature review, with deference to materials published in the Scielo and PubMed databases, which considered as inclusion criteria articles published in the last 5 years, available in full, in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, which addressed the proposed theme; the exclusion criteria were editorials, letters to the editor, review studies, theses, dissertations, and duplicate articles that did not correspond to the theme. Results: Based on the aforementioned scientific evidence, the body's omega-3 indices are relevant to identify possible cardiovascular risk, so it can therefore be used as an objective for treatment when there is a possible risk for these manifestations. This risk factor can be modified by taking EPA and DHA. The standard 1 g/day dose of EPA and DHA recommended by cardiac societies is, however, probably far from ideal for everyone, as not only this standard dose but also diet, individual genetic history, body mass index, calorie intake and disposal, and other factors all together probably determine a person's level of omega-3 fatty acids. Therefore, it is suggested that the omega-3 index acts not only as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but that other contexts allied to the patient's lifestyle should be considered. Conclusion: Diet or supplementation of these nutrients may result in cardiovascular and other types of benefits to society as a whole

Omega-3 fatty acids for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease

Background: Researchers have suggested that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from oily fish (long-chain omega-3 (LCn3), including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)), as well as from plants (alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)) benefit cardiovascular health. Guidelines recommend increasing omega-3-rich foods, and sometimes supplementation, but recent trials have not confirmed this. Objectives: To assess effects of increased intake of fish- and plant-based omega-3 for all-cause mortality, cardiovascular (CVD) events, adiposity and lipids. Search methods: We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE and Embase to April 2017, plus ClinicalTrials.gov and World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry to September 2016, with no language restrictions. We handsearched systematic review references and bibliographies and contacted authors. Selection criteria: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that lasted at least 12 months and compared supplementation and/or advice to increase LCn3 or ALA intake versus usual or lower intake. Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently assessed studies for inclusion, extracted data and assessed validity. We performed separate random-effects meta-analysis for ALA and LCn3 interventions, and assessed dose-response relationships through meta-regression. Main results: We included 79 RCTs (112,059 participants) in this review update and found that 25 were at low summary risk of bias. Trials were of 12 to 72 months' duration and included adults at varying cardiovascular risk, mainly in high-income countries. Most studies assessed LCn3 supplementation with capsules, but some used LCn3- or ALA-rich or enriched foods or dietary advice compared to placebo or usual diet. Meta-analysis and sensitivity analyses suggested little or no effect of increasing LCn3 on all-cause mortality (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.03, 92,653 participants; 8189 deaths in 39 trials, high-quality evidence), cardiovascular mortality (RR 0.95, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.03, 67,772 participants; 4544 CVD deaths in 25 RCTs), cardiovascular events (RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.04, 90,378 participants; 14,737 people experienced events in 38 trials, high-quality evidence), coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.79 to 1.09, 73,491 participants; 1596 CHD deaths in 21 RCTs), stroke (RR 1.06, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.16, 89,358 participants; 1822 strokes in 28 trials) or arrhythmia (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.05, 53,796 participants; 3788 people experienced arrhythmia in 28 RCTs). There was a suggestion that LCn3 reduced CHD events (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.97, 84,301 participants; 5469 people experienced CHD events in 28 RCTs); however, this was not maintained in sensitivity analyses - LCn3 probably makes little or no difference to CHD event risk. All evidence was of moderate GRADE quality, except as noted. Increasing ALA intake probably makes little or no difference to all-cause mortality (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.84 to 1.20, 19,327 participants; 459 deaths, 5 RCTs),cardiovascular mortality (RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.74 to 1.25, 18,619 participants; 219 cardiovascular deaths, 4 RCTs), and it may make little or no difference to CHD events (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.80 to 1.22, 19,061 participants, 397 CHD events, 4 RCTs, low-quality evidence). However, increased ALA may slightly reduce risk of cardiovascular events (from 4.8% to 4.7%, RR 0.95, 95% CI 0.83 to 1.07, 19,327 participants; 884 CVD events, 5 RCTs, low-quality evidence), and probably reduces risk of CHD mortality (1.1% to 1.0%, RR 0.95, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.26, 18,353 participants; 193 CHD deaths, 3 RCTs), and arrhythmia (3.3% to 2.6%, RR 0.79, 95% CI 0.57 to 1.10, 4,837 participants; 141 events, 1 RCT). Effects on stroke are unclear. Sensitivity analysis retaining only trials at low summary risk of bias moved effect sizes towards the null (RR 1.0) for all LCn3 primary outcomes except arrhythmias, but for most ALA outcomes, effect sizes moved to suggest protection. LCn3 funnel plots suggested that adding in missing studies/results would move effect sizes towards null for most primary outcomes. There were no dose or duration effects in subgrouping or meta-regression. There was no evidence that increasing LCn3 or ALA altered serious adverse events, adiposity or lipids, although LCn3 slightly reduced triglycerides and increased HDL. ALA probably reduces HDL (high- or moderate-quality evidence). Authors' conclusions: This is the most extensive systematic assessment of effects of omega-3 fats on cardiovascular health to date. Moderate- and high-quality evidence suggests that increasing EPA and DHA has little or no effect on mortality or cardiovascular health (evidence mainly from supplement trials). Previous suggestions of benefits from EPA and DHA supplements appear to spring from trials with higher risk of bias. Low-quality evidence suggests ALA may slightly reduce CVD event risk, CHD mortality and arrhythmia

Eicosapentaenoic and Docosahexaenoic Acids Attenuate Progression of Albuminuria in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Coronary Artery Disease

Background: Albuminuria is a marker of inflammation and an independent predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The current study evaluated whether eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation attenuates progression of albuminuria in subjects with coronary artery disease. Methods and Results: Two‐hundred sixty‐two subjects with stable coronary artery disease were randomized to either Lovaza (1.86 g of EPA and 1.5 g of DHA daily) or no Lovaza (control) for 1 year. Percent change in urine albumin‐to‐creatinine ratio (ACR) was compared. Mean (SD) age was 63.3 (7.6) years; 17% were women and 30% had type 2 diabetes mellitus. In nondiabetic subjects, no change in urine ACR occurred in either the Lovaza or control groups. In contrast, ACR increased 72.3% (P<0.001) in diabetic subjects not receiving Lovaza, whereas those receiving Lovaza had no change. In diabetic subjects on an angiotensin‐converting enzyme‐inhibitor or angiotensin‐receptor blocker, those receiving Lovaza had no change in urine ACR, whereas those not receiving Lovaza had a 64.2% increase (P<0.001). Change in ACR was directly correlated with change in systolic blood pressure (r=0.394, P=0.01). Conclusions: EPA and DHA supplementation attenuated progression of albuminuria in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease, most of whom were on an angiotensin‐converting enzyme‐inhibitor or angiotensin‐receptor blocker. Thus, EPA and DHA supplementation should be considered as additional therapy to an angiotensin‐converting enzyme‐inhibitor or angiotensin‐receptor blocker in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease. Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01624727

Effect of Eicosapentaenoic and Docosahexaenoic Acids Added to Statin Therapy on Coronary Artery Plaque in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Although statins reduce cardiovascular events, residual risk remains. Therefore, additional modalities are needed to reduce risk. We evaluated the effect of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in pharmacologic doses added to statin treatment on coronary artery plaque volume. Methods and Results: A total of 285 subjects with stable coronary artery disease on statins were randomized to omega‐3 ethyl‐ester (1.86 g of eicosapentaenoic acid and 1.5 g of docosahexaenoic acid daily) or no omega‐3 (control) for 30 months. Coronary plaque volume was assessed by coronary computed tomographic angiography. Mean (SD) age was 63.0 (7.7) years; mean low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol ≤80 mg/dL. In the intention‐to‐treat analysis, our primary endpoint, noncalcified plaque volume, was not different between groups (P=0.14) but approached significance in the per protocol analysis (P=0.07). When stratified by age in the intention‐to‐treat analysis, younger omega‐3 subjects had significantly less progression of the primary endpoint, noncalcified plaque (P=0.013), and fibrous, calcified and total plaque. In plaque subtype analysis, controls had significant progression of fibrous plaque compared to no change in the omega‐3 ethyl‐ester group (median % change [interquartile range], 5.0% [−5.7, 20.0] versus −0.1% [−12.3, 14.5], respectively; P=0.018). Among those on low‐intensity statins, omega‐3 ethyl‐ester subjects had attenuation of fibrous plaque progression compared to controls (median % change [interquartile range], 0.3% [−12.8, 9.0] versus 4.8% [−5.1, 19.0], respectively; P=0.032). In contrast, those on high‐intensity statins had no difference in plaque change in either treatment arm. Conclusions: High‐dose eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid provided additional benefit to statins in preventing progression of fibrous coronary plaque in subjects adherent to therapy with well‐controlled low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. The benefit on low‐intensity statin, but not high‐intensity statin, suggests that statin intensity affects plaque volume. Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01624727

Phishing URLs Detection Using Sequential and Parallel ML Techniques: Comparative Analysis

In today’s digitalized era, the world wide web services are a vital aspect of each individual’s daily life and are accessible to the users via uniform resource locators (URLs). Cybercriminals constantly adapt to new security technologies and use URLs to exploit vulnerabilities for illicit benefits such as stealing users’ personal and sensitive data, which can lead to financial loss, discredit, ransomware, or the spread of malicious infections and catastrophic cyber-attacks such as phishing attacks. Phishing attacks are being recognized as the leading source of data breaches and the most prevalent deceitful scam of cyber-attacks. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based techniques such as machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) have proven to be infallible in detecting phishing attacks. Nevertheless, sequential ML can be time intensive and not highly efficient in real-time detection. It can also be incapable of handling vast amounts of data. However, utilizing parallel computing techniques in ML can help build precise, robust, and effective models for detecting phishing attacks with less computation time. Therefore, in this proposed study, we utilized various multiprocessing and multithreading techniques in Python to train ML and DL models. The dataset used comprised 54 K records for training and 12 K for testing. Five experiments were carried out, the first one based on sequential execution followed by the next four based on parallel execution techniques (threading using Python parallel backend, threading using Python parallel backend and number of jobs, threading manually, and multiprocessing using Python parallel backend). Four models, namely, random forest (RF), naïve bayes (NB), convolutional neural network (CNN), and long short-term memory (LSTM) were deployed to carry out the experiments. Overall, the experiments yielded excellent results and speedup. Lastly, to consolidate, a comprehensive comparative analysis was performed

Regression of Coronary Fatty Plaque and Risk of Cardiac Events According to Blood Pressure Status: Data From a Randomized Trial of Eicosapentaenoic Acid and Docosahexaenoic Acid in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease.

Background Residual risk of cardiovascular events and plaque progression remains despite reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Factors contributing to residual risk remain unclear. The authors examined the role of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in coronary plaque regression and its predictors. Methods and Results A total of 240 patients with stable coronary artery disease were randomized to eicosapentaenoic acid plus docosahexaenoic acid (3.36 g/d) or none for 30 months. Patients were stratified by regression or progression of coronary fatty plaque measured by coronary computed tomographic angiography. Cardiac events were ascertained. The mean±SD age was 63.0±7.7 years, mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level was &lt;2.07 mmol/L, and median triglyceride level was &lt;1.38 mmol/L. Regressors had a 14.9% reduction in triglycerides that correlated with fatty plaque regression (r=0.135; P=0.036). Compared with regressors, progressors had higher cardiac events (5% vs 22.3%, respectively; P&lt;0.001) and a 2.89-fold increased risk of cardiac events (95% CI, 1.1-8.0; P=0.034). Baseline non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level &lt;2.59 mmol/L (100 mg/dL) and systolic blood pressure &lt;125 mm Hg were significant independent predictors of fatty plaque regression. Normotensive patients taking eicosapentaenoic acid plus docosahexaenoic acid had regression of noncalcified coronary plaque that correlated with triglyceride reduction (r=0.35; P=0.034) and a significant decrease in neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio. In contrast, hypertensive patients had no change in noncalcified coronary plaque or neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio. Conclusions Triglyceride reduction, systolic blood pressure &lt;125 mm Hg, and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol &lt;2.59 mmol/L were associated with coronary plaque regression and reduced cardiac events. Normotensive patients had greater benefit than hypertensive patients potentially due to lower levels of inflammation. Future studies should examine the role of inflammation in plaque regression. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT01624727

Sex disparities in the presentation, management and outcomes of patients with acute coronary syndrome: insights from the ACS QUIK trial

Aims Our aim was to explore sex differences and inequalities in terms of medical management and cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes in a low/middle-income country (LMIC), where reports are scarce.Methods We examined sex differences in presentation, management and clinical outcomes in 21 374 patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in Kerala, India enrolled in the Acute Coronary Syndrome Quality Improvement in Kerala trial. The main outcomes were the rates of in-hospital and 30-day major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) defined as composite of death, reinfarction, stroke and major bleeding. We fitted log Poisson multivariate random effects models to obtain the relative risks comparing women with men, and adjusted for clustering by centre and for age, CVD risk factors and cardiac presentation.Results A total of 5191 (24.3%) patients were women. Compared with men, women presenting with ACS were older (65±12 vs 58±12 years; p&lt;0.001), more likely to have hypertension and diabetes. They also had longer symptom onset to hospital presentation time (median, 300 vs 238 min; p&lt;0.001) and were less likely to receive primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (45.9% vs 49.8% of men, p&lt;0.001). After adjustment, women were more likely to experience in-hospital (adjusted relative risk (RR)=1.53; 95% CI 1.32 to 1.77; p&lt;0.001) and 30-day MACE (adjusted RR=1.39; 95% CI 1.23 to 1.57, p&lt;0.001).Conclusion Women presenting with ACS in Kerala, India had greater burden of CVD risk factors, including hypertension and diabetes mellitus, longer delays in presentation, and were less likely to receive guideline-directed management. Women also had worse in-hospital and 30-day outcomes. Further efforts are needed to understand and reduce cardiovascular care disparities between men and women in LMICs

Regression of Coronary Fatty Plaque and Risk of Cardiac Events According to Blood Pressure Status: Data From a Randomized Trial of Eicosapentaenoic Acid and Docosahexaenoic Acid in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease

Background Residual risk of cardiovascular events and plaque progression remains despite reduction in low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol. Factors contributing to residual risk remain unclear. The authors examined the role of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in coronary plaque regression and its predictors. Methods and Results A total of 240 patients with stable coronary artery disease were randomized to eicosapentaenoic acid plus docosahexaenoic acid (3.36 g/d) or none for 30 months. Patients were stratified by regression or progression of coronary fatty plaque measured by coronary computed tomographic angiography. Cardiac events were ascertained. The mean±SD age was 63.0±7.7 years, mean low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol level was <2.07 mmol/L, and median triglyceride level was <1.38 mmol/L. Regressors had a 14.9% reduction in triglycerides that correlated with fatty plaque regression (r=0.135; P=0.036). Compared with regressors, progressors had higher cardiac events (5% vs 22.3%, respectively; P<0.001) and a 2.89‐fold increased risk of cardiac events (95% CI, 1.1–8.0; P=0.034). Baseline non–high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol level <2.59 mmol/L (100 mg/dL) and systolic blood pressure <125 mm Hg were significant independent predictors of fatty plaque regression. Normotensive patients taking eicosapentaenoic acid plus docosahexaenoic acid had regression of noncalcified coronary plaque that correlated with triglyceride reduction (r=0.35; P=0.034) and a significant decrease in neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio. In contrast, hypertensive patients had no change in noncalcified coronary plaque or neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio. Conclusions Triglyceride reduction, systolic blood pressure <125 mm Hg, and non–high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol <2.59 mmol/L were associated with coronary plaque regression and reduced cardiac events. Normotensive patients had greater benefit than hypertensive patients potentially due to lower levels of inflammation. Future studies should examine the role of inflammation in plaque regression. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT01624727