Recent advances in preventing cardiovascular disorders by managing lipid levels

Advances in clinical lipidology during the last 18 months include the establishment of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) as an important risk marker for cardiovascular disease. Determining hsCRP levels should help the clinician single out patients at particularly high risk. However, more research needs to be done in this area. Furthermore, statins do not seem to be of benefit in patients with severe congestive heart failure, on chronic hemodialysis, or with aortic stenosis. Next, plasma triglyceride levels are now considered an important risk marker for cardiovascular disease, but the therapeutic benefits related to lowering triglyceride levels remain difficult to achieve. Also, nicotinic acid has gained more interest partly because recent studies have demonstrated positive effects on atherosclerosis development and partly because the side effect of flushing seems to be partially avoidable with the concomitant administration of laropiprant. Both the raising of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol by nicotinic acid and the additional lowering of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by ezetimibe and eprotirome will need to demonstrate hard endpoint reductions in large-scale intervention trials. Trials of niacin/laropiprant (the AIM-HIGH and HPS2-THRIVE studies) and ezetimibe (the IMPROVE-IT study) are already under way

The Myocardial Ischemia Reduction with Acute Cholesterol Lowering (MIRACL) trial: a new frontier for statins?

The Myocardial Ischemia Reduction with Acute Cholesterol Lowering (MIRACL) Trial tested the hypothesis that intensive lowering of cholesterol with atorvastatin (80 mg/day) initiated 24-96 h after an acute coronary syndrome would, over 4 months, reduce the incidence of the composite endpoint of death, nonfatal infarction, resuscitated cardiac arrest, and recurrent symptomatic myocardial ischemia with new objective symptoms requiring emergency rehospitalization. This primary composite endpoint was reduced from 17.4% to 14.8% (P = 0.048) among the 3086 patients enrolled. The results of MIRACL suggest that patients with acute coronary syndromes should begin to receive this treatment before leaving hospital, irrespective of baseline levels of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol

Cost-effectiveness of rosuvastatin in comparison with generic atorvastatin and simvastatin in a Swedish population at high risk of cardiovascular events

Background: To assess the long-term cost-effectiveness of rosuvastatin therapy compared with generic simvastatin and generic atorvastatin in reducing the incidence of cardiovascular events and mortality in a Swedish population with Framingham risk ≥20%. Methods: A probabilistic Monte Carlo simulation model based on data from JUPITER (the Justification for the Use of statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin) was used to estimate the long-term cost-effectiveness of rosuvastatin 20 mg daily versus simvastatin or atorvastatin 40 mg for the prevention of cardiovascular death and morbidity. The three-stage model included cardiovascular event prevention simulating the 4 years of JUPITER, initial prevention beyond the trial, and subsequent cardiovascular event prevention. A Swedish health care payer perspective (direct costs only) was modeled for a lifetime horizon, with 2008/2009 as the costing period. Univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed. Results: The incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained with rosuvastatin 20 mg over simvastatin or atorvastatin 40 mg ranged from SEK88,113 (rosuvastatin 20 mg versus simvastatin 40 mg; Framingham risk ≥30%; net avoidance of 34 events/1000 patients) to SEK497,542 (versus atorvastatin 40 mg: Framingham risk ≥20%; net avoidance of 11 events/1000 patients) over a lifetime horizon. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses indicated that at a willingness-to-pay threshold of SEK500,000/QALY, rosuvastatin 20 mg would be cost-effective for approximately 75%–85% of simulations relative to atorvastatin or simvastatin 40 mg. Sensitivity analyses indicated the findings to be robust. Conclusion: Rosuvastatin 20 mg is cost-effective over a lifetime horizon compared with generic simvastatin or atorvastatin 40 mg in patients at high cardiovascular risk in Sweden

Effects of dalcetrapib in patients with a recent acute coronary syndrome

In observational analyses, higher levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol have been associated with a lower risk of coronary heart disease events. However, whether raising HDL cholesterol levels therapeutically reduces cardiovascular risk remains uncertain. Inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) raises HDL cholesterol levels and might therefore improve cardiovascular outcomes

Dynamics of the normal gut microbiota: A longitudinal one-year population study in Sweden

Temporal dynamics of the gut microbiota potentially limit the identification of microbial features associated with health status. Here, we used whole-genome metagenomic and 16S rRNA gene sequencing to characterize the intra- and inter-individual variations of gut microbiota composition and functional potential of a disease-free Swedish population (n = 75) over one year. We found that 23% of the total compositional variance was explained by intra-individual variation. The degree of intra-individual compositional variability was negatively associated with the abundance of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (a butyrate producer) and two Bifidobacterium species. By contrast, the abundance of facultative anaerobes and aerotolerant bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus acidophilus varied extensively, independent of compositional stability. The contribution of intra-individual variance to the total variance was greater for functional pathways than for microbial species. Thus, reliable quantification of microbial features requires repeated samples to address the issue of intra-individual variations of the gut microbiota

Genome-Wide Mapping of Susceptibility to Coronary Artery Disease Identifies a Novel Replicated Locus on Chromosome 17

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death world-wide, and most cases have a complex, multifactorial aetiology that includes a substantial heritable component. Identification of new genes involved in CAD may inform pathogenesis and provide new therapeutic targets. The PROCARDIS study recruited 2,658 affected sibling pairs (ASPs) with onset of CAD before age 66 y from four European countries to map susceptibility loci for CAD. ASPs were defined as having CAD phenotype if both had CAD, or myocardial infarction (MI) phenotype if both had a MI. In a first study, involving a genome-wide linkage screen, tentative loci were mapped to Chromosomes 3 and 11 with the CAD phenotype (1,464 ASPs), and to Chromosome 17 with the MI phenotype (739 ASPs). In a second study, these loci were examined with a dense panel of grid-tightening markers in an independent set of families (1,194 CAD and 344 MI ASPs). This replication study showed a significant result on Chromosome 17 (MI phenotype; p = 0.009 after adjustment for three independent replication tests). An exclusion analysis suggests that further genes of effect size λ(sib) > 1.24 are unlikely to exist in these populations of European ancestry. To our knowledge, this is the first genome-wide linkage analysis to map, and replicate, a CAD locus. The region on Chromosome 17 provides a compelling target within which to identify novel genes underlying CAD. Understanding the genetic aetiology of CAD may lead to novel preventative and/or therapeutic strategies

Lunds kommuns klimatpolitiska råd : Rapport 2021

Lunds kommuns klimatpolitiska råd (Rådet) bildades hösten 2018 med uppdrag att utvärdera hur Lunds kommuns samlade politik är förenlig med de klimatmål som antagits av kommunfullmäktige. Rådet, som består av forskare från Lunds universitet (LU) och SLU Alnarp, har sammantaget en bred tvär- och mångvetenskaplig kompetens och en gedigen erfarenhet av samverkan med olika samhällsaktörer.Samarbetet mellan Lunds kommun och akademin har sedan länge stimulerat utvecklingen i Lund och utgör en viktig källa till nytänkande och problemlösning.Rådet uppskattar förtroendet att utvärdera kommunens klimatarbete men uttrycker samtidigt en ödmjukhet inför komplexiteten i detta arbete. Rådets ambition är att sträva efter att vara kritiskt granskande men också konstruktiv och lösningsorienterad för att kunna bidra till utvecklingen av det lokala klimatarbetet.Rådet presenterar årligen en rapport i vilken Lunds kommuns klimatarbete granskas. Detta är Rådets tredje rapport i vilken Rådet valt att fokusera på Lunds kommuns förslag till nya klimatmål i miljömålsprogrammet LundaEko. Denna granskningkompletteras med en uppföljning av de klimatmål som antagits i den tidigare versionen av LundaEko (LundaEko II 2014-2020) inom områdena Minstamöjliga klimatpåverkan och Klimatanpassning. Rådet har i sin granskning utgått från tillgängliga planer, dokument, redovisningar och data. Detta material har kompletterats med samtal med ansvariga tjänstepersoner. Under arbetets gång har Rådet även fört dialog med Ungdomspolitiken i Lund, som på egen hand granskat LundaEko ur ett ungdomsperspektiv.Under 2020 har mandatet för några rådsledamöter löpt ut – Lena Hiselius (LU), Anna Peterson (SLU Alnarp), Markku Rummukainen (LU) och Catharina Sternudd (LU) – och de har avtackats för sina insatser under de inledande två åren. Samtidigt har nya ledamöter tillkommit – Cecilia Akselsson (LU), Susanne Arvidsson (LU), Anders Larsson (SLU Alnarp) och Lars J Nilsson (LU) – som tillsammans med övriga ledamöter har deltagit i den granskning som presenteras i denna rapport

Fixed and flexible: coexistence of obligate and facultative migratory strategies in a freshwater fish

Migration is an important event in many animal life histories, but the degree to which individual animals participate in seasonal migrations often varies within populations. The powerful ecological and evolutionary consequences of such partial migration are now well documented, but the underlying mechanisms are still heavily debated. One potential mechanism of partial migration is between-individual variation in body condition, where animals in poor condition cannot pay the costs of migration and hence adopt a resident strategy. However, underlying intrinsic traits may overrule such environmental influence, dictating individual consistency in migratory patterns. Unfortunately, field tests of individual consistency compared to the importance of individual condition on migratory propensity are rare. Here we analyse 6 years of field data on roach migration, gathered by tagging almost 3000 individual fish and monitoring their seasonal migrations over extended periods of time. Our aims were to provide a field test of the role of condition in wild fish for migratory decisions, and also to assess individual consistency in migratory tendency. Our analyses reveal that (1) migratory strategy, in terms of migration/residency, is highly consistent within individuals over time and (2) there is a positive relationship between condition and the probability of migration, but only in individuals that adopt a migratory strategy at some point during their lives. However, life-long residents do not differ in condition to migrants, hence body condition is only a good predictor of migratory tendency in fish with migratory phenotypes and not a more general determinant of migratory tendency for the population. As resident individuals can achieve very high body condition and still remain resident, we suggest that our data provides some of the first field evidence to show that both facultative and obligate strategies can co-exist within populations of migratory animals