Endothelial dysfunction, carotid artery plaque burden, and conventional exercise-induced myocardial ischemia as predictors of coronary artery disease prognosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While both flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) in the brachial artery (BA), which measures endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, and intima-media thickness (IMT) in the carotid artery are correlated with the prognosis of coronary artery disease (CAD), it is not clear which modality is a better predictor of CAD. Furthermore, it has not been fully determined whether either of these modalities is superior to conventional ST-segment depression on exercise stress electrocardiogram (ECG) as a predictor. Thus, the goal of the present study was to compare the predictive value of FMD, IMT, and stress ECG for CAD prognosis.</p> <p>Methods and Results</p> <p>A total of 103 consecutive patients (62 ± 9 years old, 79 men) with clinically suspected CAD had FMD and nitroglycerin-induced dilation (NTG-D) in the BA, carotid artery IMT measurement using high-resolution ultrasound, and exercise treadmill testing. The 73 CAD patients and 30 normal coronary patients were followed for 50 ± 15 months. Fifteen patients had coronary events during this period (1 cardiac death, 2 non-fatal myocardial infarctions, 3 acute heart failures, and 9 unstable anginas). On Kaplan-Meier analysis, only FMD and stress ECG were significant predictors for cardiac events.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Brachial endothelial function as reflected by FMD and conventional exercise stress testing has comparable prognostic value, whereas carotid artery plaque burden appears to be less powerful for predicting future cardiac events.</p

The financial impact of a nurse practitioner directed lung cancer screening and tobacco related disease program

The American Association for Thoracic Surgery Centennia

Community network lung cancer screening experience underrepresents medically underserved and geographically remote individuals

International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncolog

Evaluating an Accelerometer-Based System for Spine Shape Monitoring

In western societies a huge percentage of the population suffers from some kind of back pain at least once in their life. There are several approaches addressing back pain by postural modifications. Postural training and activity can be tracked by various wearable devices most of which are based on accelerometers. We present research on the accuracy of accelerometer-based posture measurements. To this end, we took simultaneous recordings using an optical motion capture system and a system consisting of five accelerometers in three different settings: On a test robot, in a template, and on actual human backs. We compare the accelerometer-based spine curve reconstruction against the motion capture data. Results show that tilt values from the accelerometers are captured highly accurate, and the spine curve reconstruction works well