Median vessel diameters and upper reference values (95th percentile) of different artery diameters according to age groups: 21–39 years (N = 137), 40–59 years (N = 334) and 60–81 years (N = 165).

<p>Median vessel diameters and upper reference values (95th percentile) of different artery diameters according to age groups: 21–39 years (N = 137), 40–59 years (N = 334) and 60–81 years (N = 165).</p

Dynamic adaptation of myocardial proteome during heart failure development

<div><p>Heart failure (HF) development is characterized by huge structural changes that are crucial for disease progression. Analysis of time dependent global proteomic adaptations during HF progression offers the potential to gain deeper insights in the disease development and identify new biomarker candidates. Therefore, hearts of TAC (transverse aortic constriction) and sham mice were examined by cardiac MRI on either day 4, 14, 21, 28, 42, and 56 after surgery (n = 6 per group/time point). At each time point, proteomes of the left (LV) and right ventricles (RV) of TAC and sham mice were analyzed by mass spectrometry (MS). In TAC mice, systolic LV heart function worsened from day 4 to day 14, remained on a stable level from day 14 to day 42, and showed a further pronounced decline at day 56. MS analysis identified in the LV 330 and in RV 246 proteins with altered abundance over time (TAC vs. sham, fc≥±2). Functional categorization of proteins disclosed the time-dependent alteration of different pathways. Heat shock protein beta-7 (HSPB7) displayed differences in abundance in tissue and serum at an early stage of HF. This study not only provides an overview of the time dependent molecular alterations during transition to HF, but also identified HSPB7 as a novel blood biomarker candidate for the onset of cardiac remodeling.</p></div

Example of male pelvic and leg arteries.

<p>Derived from contrast-enhanced MR angiography in the Study of Health in Pomerania. Red lines correspond to vessel measurements.</p

Parameters for calculation of reference values (95^th percentile) for body surface area-indexed artery diameters according to age.

<p>Parameters for calculation of reference values (95^th percentile) for body surface area-indexed artery diameters according to age.</p

Study sample flow-chart.

<p>The development of the whole MRA study sample and the vascular reference population for determination of reference vessel diameters.</p

Distribution of arterial variants in the left and right leg.

<p>Distribution of arterial variants in the left and right leg.</p

Selected characteristics of the male study population and male non-participants.

<p>Selected characteristics of the male study population and male non-participants.</p

Periodontitis Is Associated with Endothelial Dysfunction in a General Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

<div><p>A large body of evidence underlines an association between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease. In contrast, data on its relation with endothelial dysfunction as a marker of early subclinical atherosclerosis is inconclusive and limited to patient-cohort studies. We therefore investigated the association between periodontal disease and flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery (FMD) as a measure of endothelial dysfunction in a general population, and also addressed a possible mediation via inflammation. The study population comprised 1,234 subjects (50.5% men) aged 25–85 years from the 5-year follow-up of the Study of Health in Pomerania, a population-based cohort study. Clinical attachment loss (CAL) and pocket probing depth (PPD) as measures of periodontal disease were assessed half-mouth at four sites per tooth. Subjects were classified according to the periodontitis case definition proposed by Tonetti and Claffey (2005). Measurements of FMD and nitroglycerin-mediated dilation (NMD) were performed using standardized ultrasound techniques. High-sensitive C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and leukocyte count were measured. Fully adjusted multivariate linear regression analyses revealed significant associations of the percentage of sites with PPD ≥6 mm with FMD (p_trend=0.048), with subjects within the highest category having a 0.74% higher FMD compared to subjects within the lowest category (p<0.05). Consistently, FMD values increased significantly across categories of the percentage of sites with CAL ≥6 mm (p_trend=0.01) and the periodontitis case definition (p_trend=0.006). Restrictions to subjects without antihypertensive or statin medication or current non-smokers confirmed previous results. Systemic inflammation did not seem to mediate the relation. Both PPD and CAL were not consistently associated with NMD. In contrast to previous studies, high levels of periodontal disease were significantly associated with high FMD values. This association was not mediated via systemic inflammation. This study revives the discussion on whether and how periodontitis contributes to endothelial dysfunction.</p> </div

Stenosis prevalence in different artery segments.

<p>Stenosis prevalence in different artery segments.</p

IPA based biological function activity analysis.

<p>For analysis all proteins of LV which showed differential abundance (TAC vs. sham, fc≥2) only in the time period between day 14 and 42 after TAC were used. A positive z-score predicts activation (orange), a negative score (purple) predicts inhibition of the biological process.</p