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Archive for the ‘Translational Effectiveness’ Category

Calcium and Cardiovascular Diseases: A Series of Twelve Articles in Advanced Cardiology

Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

UPDATED on 7/18/2021

ER

IMAGE SOURCE:

Claudio A. Hetz. Antioxidants & Redox Signaling.Dec 2007.

2345-2356. http://doi.org/10.1089/ars.2007.1793

FIG. 3. Regulation of ER calcium homeostasis by the BCL-2 protein family. Different anti- and proapoptotic members of the BCL-2 family of proteins are located at the ER membrane, where they have an important role regulating ER calcium content. BCL-2 and BCL-XL interact with the IP3R calcium channel, modulating its activity. BCL-2 has been shown to increase ER calcium leak through the IP3R because of an increase on its phosphorylation levels.

BAX and BAK have the opposite effect on ER calcium content, a function that may be further modulated by BH3-only proteins (such as PUMA and BIK). In addition, the activity of BCL-2 at the ER membrane is regulated by phosphorylation. JNK phosphorylates BCL-2, decreasing its antiapoptotic activity and increasing ER calcium content, whereas the phosphatase PP2A decreases this phosphorylation through a direct interaction. Alternatively, ER stress activates the IRE1/JNK pathway that may alter the activity of BCL-2 at the ER membrane. BI-1 is also located at the ER membrane, where it regulates calcium homeostasis.

CONCLUSIONS AND THERAPEUTIC PERSPECTIVES

I have summarized different pieces of evidence suggesting that the BCL-2 family of proteins has evolved to regulate multiple processes involved in cell survival under stress conditions. The global view of the current state of the field indicates that the BCL-2–related proteins are not only the “death gateway” keeper (as upstream regulators of caspases), but they also have multiple functions in essential processes for the cell. BCL-2–related proteins are particularly important in the physiologic maintenance of the ER, where they operate as

(a) a calcium rheostat,

(b) modulators of the UPR,

(c) regulators of ER network structure, and

(d) regulators of autophagy.

In addition, examples of a role of the BCL-2 family of proteins in cell-cycle regulation (87, 113), DNA damage responses (37, 114), and glucose/energy metabolism (16) are available, strongly supporting the notion that the BCL-2 protein family is a multifunctional group of proteins that, under normal conditions, participate in essential cellular process. In doing so, the BCL-2 protein family may represent specialized stress sentinels that actively participate in essential processes, allowing a constant homeostatic “quality control.” In response to irreversible cellular damage, particular BCL-2 family members may turn into direct activators of apoptosis.

Mutations in specific genes are responsible for a variety of neurologic disorders due to the misfolding and accumulation of abnormal protein aggregates in the brain. In many of these diseases, it has been suggested that alteration in the homeostasis of the ER contributes significantly to neuronal dysfunction.

These diseases include Parkinson’s disease (32, 84), Alzheimer’s disease (22), prion diseases (27, 28, 31), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (97), Huntington’s disease (63, 90) and many others (see list of diseases in 86). Consequently, the first steps in the death pathways downstream of ER stress represent important therapeutic targets. In this line of thinking, pharmacologic manipulation of the activity of the BCL-2 protein family may have beneficial consequences to treat these fatal diseases. Different small molecules and synthetic peptides are currently available with proven therapeutic applications in mouse disease models, including BCL-2 inhibitors (71), BAX channel inhibitors (29), BAX/BAK activator peptides (100, 101) and many others (see reviews in 52, 79). These drugs may be used as pharmacologic tools to manipulate the activity of stress-signaling pathways regulated by the BCL-2 protein family (i.e., autophagy, calcium metabolism, or the UPR) and their possible role in pathologic conditions.

SOURCE

Claudio A. Hetz.Antioxidants & Redox Signaling.Dec 2007.

2345-2356. http://doi.org/10.1089/ars.2007.1793

  • Published in Volume: 9 Issue 12: November 2, 2007
  • Online Ahead of Print: September 13, 2007

UPDATED on 7/1/2015

We add the following to this series:

Part XIII 

Ca2+-Stimulated Exocytosis:  The Role of Calmodulin and Protein Kinase C in Ca2+ Regulation of Hormone and Neurotransmitter
Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Part I:

Identification of Biomarkers that are Related to the Actin Cytoskeleton

Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP

Part II:

Role of Calcium, the Actin Skeleton, and Lipid Structures in Signaling and Cell Motility

Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Stephen Williams, PhD and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Part III:

Renal Distal Tubular Ca2+ Exchange Mechanism in Health and Disease

Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Stephen J. Williams, PhD
 and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Part IV:

The Centrality of Ca(2+) Signaling and Cytoskeleton Involving Calmodulin Kinases and Ryanodine Receptors in Cardiac Failure, ArterialSmooth Muscle, Post-ischemic Arrhythmia, Similarities and Differences, and Pharmaceutical Targets

Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Justin Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Part V:

Heart, Vascular Smooth Muscle, Excitation-Contraction Coupling (E-CC), Cytoskeleton, Cellular Dynamics and Ca2 Signaling

Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Justin Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Part VI:

Calcium Cycling (ATPase Pump) in Cardiac Gene Therapy: Inhalable Gene Therapy for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and Percutaneous Intra-coronary Artery Infusion for Heart Failure: Contributions by Roger J. Hajjar, MD

Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Part VII:

Cardiac Contractility & Myocardium Performance: Ventricular Arrhythmias and Non-ischemic Heart Failure – Therapeutic Implications for Cardiomyocyte Ryanopathy (Calcium Release-related Contractile Dysfunction) and Catecholamine Responses

Justin Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC, Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Part VIII

Disruption of Calcium Homeostasis: Cardiomyocytes and Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells: The Cardiac and Cardiovascular Calcium Signaling Mechanism – Part VIII

Justin Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC, Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Part IX

Calcium-Channel Blockers, Calcium Release-related Contractile Dysfunction (Ryanopathy) and Calcium as Neurotransmitter Sensor – Part IX

Justin Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC, Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Part X

Synaptotagmin functions as a Calcium Sensor: How Calcium Ions Regulate the fusion of vesicles with cell membranes during Neurotransmission – Part X

Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Part XI

Sensors and Signaling in Oxidative Stress – Part XI

Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

Part XII

Atherosclerosis Independence: Genetic Polymorphisms of Ion Channels Role in the Pathogenesis of Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction and Myocardial Ischemia (Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)) – Part XII

Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD,

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Pathophysiological Effects of Diabetes on Ischemic-Cardiovascular Disease and on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Pathophysiological Effects of Diabetes on Ischemic-Cardiovascular Disease and on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Curator:  Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

Article ID #106: Pathophysiological Effects of Diabetes on Ischemic-Cardiovascular Disease and on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Published 1/15/2014

WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman

This is a multipart article that develops the pathological effects of type-2 diabetes in the progression of a systemic inflammatory disease with a development of neuropathy, and fully developing into cardiovascular disease.  It also identifies a systemic relationship to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The more we learn about diabetes, we learn about its generalized systemic effects.

This article has the following SIX Parts:

Part 1. Role of Autonomic Cardiovascular Neuropathy in Pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease in patients with diabetes mellitus

Part 2. A Longitudinal Cohort Study of the Cardiovascular Experience of Individuals at High Risk for Diabetes

Part 3.  Clinical significance of cardiovascular dysmetabolic syndrome

Part 4.   Waist circumference a good indicator of future risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease

Part 5.   How to use C-reactive protein in acute coronary care

Part 6.  Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and glucose metabolism: a bitter sweet symphony

INTRODUCTION

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a common chronic disease which develops insidiously over time, and is associated with obesity, nutritional imbalance (high fructose beverages, high starch and processed foods, carbohydrate excess intake, and an imbalance of proinflammatory to anti-inflammatory polyunsaturated  fatty acids), which makes it an acquired and manageable disease.  The long term effects of T2DM is played out on cardiovascular disease and stroke-risk, obstructive sleep apnea, progressive renal insufficiency, development of neuropathy, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, all of which are occuring related to an systemic inflammatory condition that proceeds for some time prior to the identification of overt diabetes.
A detailed story of a significant part of these associations continues in the SIX Part series.

Part 1. Role of Autonomic Cardiovascular Neuropathy in Pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease in patients with diabetes mellitus

This article is an abstract only of a related publication of the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy in diabetics leading to ischemic heart disease.

Subjects: Medicine (General), Medicine, Medicine (General),
Health Sciences Authors: Popović-Pejičić Snježana, Todorović-Đilas Ljiljana, Pantelinac Pavle
Publisher: Društvo lekara Vojvodine Srpskog lekarskog društva
Publication: Medicinski Pregled 2006; 59(3-4): Pp 118-123 (2006) ISSN(s): 0025-8105  Added to DOAJ: 2010-11-11
http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/MPNS0604118P  http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0025-8105/2006/0025-81050604118P.pdf

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, autonomic nervous system diseases, heart diseases, myocardial ischemia, comorbidity

Introduction.

Diabetes is strongly associated with macrovascular complications, among which

  • ischemic heart disease is the major cause of mortality.

Autonomic neuropathy increases the risk of complications, which calls for an early diagnosis. The aim of this study was to determine

  • both presence and extent of cardiac autonomic neuropathy,

in regard to the type of diabetes mellitus, as well as

  • its correlation with coronary disease and
  • major cardiovascular risk factors.

Material and methods. We have examined 90 subjects, classified into three groups, with 30 patients each: those with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and control group of healthy subjects. All patients underwent

  • cardiovascular tests (Valsalva maneuver, deep breathing test, response to standing, blood pressure response to standing sustained, handgrip test),
  • electrocardiogram,
  • treadmill exercise test and
  • filled out a questionnaire referring to major cardiovascular risk factors: smoking, obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia.

Results. Our results showed that cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy was

  • more frequent in type 2 diabetes,
  • manifesting as autonomic neuropathy.

In patients with autonomic neuropathy, regardless of the type of diabetes,

  • the treadmill test was positive, i.e. strongly correlating with coronary disease.

In regard to coronary disease risk factors,

  • the most frequent correlation was found for obesity and hypertension.

Discussion

Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy is considered to be the principal cause of arteriosclerosis and coronary disease. Our results showed that the occurrence of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy increases the risk of coronary disease due to dysfunction of autonomic nervous system.

Conclusions

Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes that significantly correlates with coronary disease. Early diagnosis of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy points to increased cardiovascular risk, providing a basis for preventive and therapeutic measures.

Part 2. A Longitudinal Cohort Study of the Cardiovascular Experience of Individuals at High Risk for Diabetes

This second part is a description of a longitudinal cohort study of individuals at high-risk for diabetes.  Unlike the SSA study, the study is not focused on protein-energy malnutrition.

Protocol for ADDITION-PRO: a longitudinal cohort study of the cardiovascular experience of individuals at high risk for diabetes recruited from Danish primary care

Subjects: Public aspects of medicine, Medicine, Public Health, Health Sciences
Authors: Johansen NB, Hansen Anne-Louise S, Jensen TM, Philipsen A, Rasmussen SS, Jørgensen ME, Simmons RK, Lauritzen T, Sandbæk A, Witte DR
Publisher: BioMed Central    Date of publication: 2012 Dec Published in: BMC Public Health 2012; 12(1): 1078    ISSN(s): 1471-2458   Added to DOAJ: 2013-03-12 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-1078       http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/1078

Keywords: Diabetes, Cardiovascular disease, Primary care, Complications, Microvascular, Impaired fasting glucose, Impaired glucose intolerance, Aortic stiffness, Physical activity, Body composition

Background

Screening programmes for type 2 diabetes inevitably find more individuals at high risk for diabetes than people with undiagnosed prevalent disease. While well established guidelines for the treatment of diabetes exist, less is known about treatment or prevention strategies for individuals found at high risk following screening. In order to make better use of the opportunities for primary prevention of diabetes and its complications among this high risk group, it is important to

  • quantify diabetes progression rates and to examine
  • the development of early markers of cardiovascular disease and
  • microvascular diabetic complications.

We also require a better understanding of the

  • mechanisms that underlie and drive early changes in cardiometabolic physiology.

The ADDITION-PRO study was designed to address these issues among individuals at different levels of diabetes risk recruited from Danish primary care.

Methods/Design

ADDITION-PRO is a population-based, longitudinal cohort study of individuals at high risk for diabetes. 16,136 eligible individuals were identified at high risk following participation in a stepwise screening programme in Danish general practice between 2001 and 2006.

  • All individuals with impaired glucose regulation at screening,
  • those who developed diabetes following screening, and
  • a random sub-sample of those at lower levels of diabetes risk

were invited to attend a follow-up health assessment in 2009–2011 (n = 4,188), of whom 2,082 (50%) attended. The health assessment included

  • detailed measurement of anthropometry,
  • body composition,
  • biochemistry,
  • physical activity and
  • cardiovascular risk factors including aortic stiffness and central blood pressure.

All ADDITION-PRO participants are being followed for incident cardiovascular disease and death.

Discussion

The ADDITION-PRO study is designed to increase

  • understanding of cardiovascular risk and
  • its underlying mechanisms among individuals at high risk of diabetes.

Key features of this study include

  • (i) a carefully characterised cohort at different levels of diabetes risk;
  • (ii) detailed measurement of cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors;
  • (iii) objective measurement of physical activity behaviour; and
  • (iv) long-term follow-up of hard clinical outcomes including mortality and cardiovascular disease.

Results will inform policy recommendations concerning cardiovascular risk reduction and treatment among individuals at high risk for diabetes. The detailed phenotyping of this cohort will also allow a number of research questions concerning early changes in cardiometabolic physiology to be addressed.

Part 3.  Clinical significance of cardiovascular dysmetabolic syndrome

This study also addresses the issue of diabetes insulin resistance leading to cardiovascular dysmetabolic syndrome.

Subjects: Diseases of the circulatory (Cardiovascular) system,
Specialties of internal medicine, Internal medicine, Medicine, Cardiovascular, Medicine (General), Health Sciences
Authors: Deedwania Prakash C Publisher: BioMed Central            Date of publication: 2002 Jan
Published in: Trials 2002; 3: 1(2)   ISSN(s): 1468-6708  Added to DOAJ: 2004-06-03
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1468-6708-3-2   http://cvm.controlled-trials.com/content/3/1/2

Keywords: cardiovascular dysmetabolic syndrome, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance

Although diabetes mellitus is predominantly a metabolic disorder,

  • recent data suggest that it is as much a vascular disorder.
  • Cardiovascular complications are the leading cause
    • of death and disability in patients with diabetes mellitus.

A number of recent reports have emphasized that

  • many patients already have atherosclerosis in progression
  • at the time they are diagnosed with clinical evidence of diabetes mellitus.

The increased risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular complications in diabetic patients is related to

  • the frequently associated dyslipidemia, hypertension, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and endothelial dysfunction.

The evolving knowledge regarding the variety of

  • metabolic,
  • hormonal, and
  • hemodynamic abnormalities in patients with diabetes mellitus

has led to efforts designed for early identification of individuals at risk of subsequent disease. It has been suggested that

  • insulin resistance, the key abnormality in type II diabetes,
  • often precedes clinical features of diabetes by 5–6 years.

Careful attention to the criteria described for the cardiovascular dysmetabolic syndrome

  • should help identify those at risk at an early stage.

The application of nonpharmacologic as well as newer emerging pharmacologic therapies can have beneficial effects

  • in individuals with cardiovascular dysmetabolic syndrome and/or diabetes mellitus
  • by improving insulin sensitivity and related abnormalities.

Early identification and implementation of appropriate therapeutic strategies would be necessary

  • to contain the emerging new epidemic of cardiovascular disease related to diabetes.

Part 4.   Waist circumference a good indicator of future risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease

Subjects: Public aspects of medicine, Medicine, Public Health, Health Sciences
Authors: Siren Reijo, Eriksson Johan G, Vanhanen Hannu
Publisher: BioMed Central      Date of publication: 2012 Aug
Published in: BMC Public Health 2012; 12: 1(631)    ISSN(s): 1471-2458   Added to DOAJ: 2013-03-12
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-631    http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/631

Keywords: Waist circumference, Type 2 diabetes, Cardiovascular disease, Middle-aged men

Background

Abdominal obesity is a more important risk factor than overall obesity in

  • predicting the development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

From a preventive and public health point of view it is crucial that

  • risk factors are identified at an early stage,
  • in order to change and modify behaviour and lifestyle in high risk individuals.

Methods

Data from a community based study was used to assess

  • the risk for type 2 diabetes,
  • cardiovascular disease and
  • prevalence of metabolic syndrome in middle-aged men.

In order to identify those with increased risk for type 2 diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease

  • sensitivity and specificity analysis were performed, including
  • calculation of positive and negative predictive values, and
  • corresponding 95% CI for eleven different cut-off points,
    • with 1 cm intervals (92 to 102 cm), for waist circumference.

Results

A waist circumference ≥94 cm in middle-aged men,

  • identified those with increased risk for type 2 diabetes
  • and/or for cardiovascular disease

with a sensitivity of 84.4% (95% CI 76.4% to 90.0%), and a specificity of 78.2% (95% CI 68.4% to 85.5%). The positive predictive value was 82.9% (95% CI 74.8% to 88.8%), and negative predictive value 80.0% (95% CI 70.3% to 87.1%), respectively .

Conclusions

Measurement of waist circumference in middle-aged men

  • is a reliable test to identify individuals at increased risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

This measurement should be used more frequently in daily practice in primary care

  • in order to identify individuals at risk and when planning health counselling and interventions.

Part 5.  How to use C-reactive protein in acute coronary care

Luigi M. Biasucci, Wolfgang Koenig, Johannes Mair, Christian Mueller, Mario Plebani, Bertil Lindahl, Nader Rifai,Per Venge,Christian Hamm, and the Study Group on Biomarkers in Cardiology of the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association of the European Society of Cardiology
Department of Cardiology B, Aarhus University Hospital, Tage Hansens Gade2, Aarhus DK-8000,Denmark; Germany, U.K., U.S., Italy
European Heart Journal Advance Access published Nov 7, 2013.  Current Opinion.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/eht435

Introduction

 C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase protein and an established marker for detection, risk stratification, and monitoring of infections, and inflammatory and necrotic processes.. Because C-reactive protein is sensitive but not specific, its values must be nterpreted  in the clinical context. Inpatients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), CRP increases within 4–6h of symptoms, peaks 2–4 days later,and returns to baseline after 7–10 days.

CRP has gained interest recently as a marker for risk stratification in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) when measured by high-sensitivity CRP assays. These assays have greater analytical sensitivity and reliably measure CRP concentrations within the reference range with low imprecision (5–10%). Because of evidence that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease, high-sensitivity CRP can be used as a biomarker of risk
in primary prevention and in patients with known cardiovascular disease. The aim of this review is to evaluate the use of CRP in patients with acute coronary disease.

The in-vitro stability of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein is excellent. Specific blood sampling conditions aren’t necessary.  However, retesting may be necessary with some assays if there is marked lipaemia.  Baseline and subsequent measures are in good for agreement for risk stratification despite biological variability of 30–60%.

The upper reference limit is method-dependent but usually 8mg/L for standard assays. The distribution of high-sensitivity CRP concentrations is skewed in both genders with a 50th percentile of_1.5mg/L (excluding women on hormone replacement therapy). Race differences have been reported. Most studies have reported no relationship with age,  but to circadian and seasonal variation. CRP concentrations are increased by smoking, obesity, and hormone replacement therapy and reduced by exercise, moderate alcohol drinking, and statin use. Correction for these factors is essential in reference range studies. CRP assays are not standardized. We recommend  the use of third-generation high-sensitivity CRP assays that combine features of standard and high-sensitivity CRP assays.  Required assay precision should be < 10% in the range of 3 and 10 mg/L.

Biochemical and analytical issues

Critical clinical concepts

(1) CRP concentrations are reported in mg/L
(2) CRP test results are method-dependent

  •  classification of patients into risk categories is usually comparable
(3) Third generation CRP assay are recommended
(4) No specific patient preparation before blood sampling is necessary
(5) The in-vitro stability of CRP is high

This is only a portion of the published concensus document. What is relevant to this discussion is that the hs-CRP is an extremely valuable marker for inflammatory disease.  It is not ordered often enough because of the broad range of values that we have become accustomed to for years, and it is elevated in rheumatologic conditions, but even then, it is widely used in pediatrics because children may present with rapidly emergent sepsis with very minimal sympoms.
The hs-CRP has opened a window to subliminal inflammatory disease that is diabetes, with accompanied arteriolar endothelial inflammation.

Part 6.  Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and glucose metabolism: a bitter sweet symphony

Subjects: Diseases of the circulatory (Cardiovascular) system,
Specialties of internal medicine, Internal medicine, Medicine, Cardiovascular, Medicine (General), Health Sciences
Authors: Mirrakhimov Aibek E
Publisher: BioMed Central      Date of publication: Oct 2012   ISSN(s): 1475-2840
Published in: Cardiovascular Diabetology 2012; 11(1):132   Added to DOAJ: 2013-03-12
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1475-2840-11-132      http://www.cardiab.com/content/11/1/132

Keywords: COPD, Dysglycemia, Insulin resistance, Obesity, Metabolic syndrome, Diabetes mellitus endothelial dysfunction, Vasculopathy

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus

  • are common and underdiagnosed medical conditions.

It was predicted that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

  • will be the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2020.

The healthcare burden of this disease is even greater

  • if we consider the significant impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on
    • the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

  • may be considered as a novel risk factor for new onset type 2 diabetes mellitus via

multiple pathophysiological alterations such as:

  1. inflammation and oxidative stress,
  2. insulin resistance,
  3. weight gain and
  4. alterations in metabolism of adipokines.

On the other hand, diabetes may act as an independent factor,

  • negatively affecting pulmonary structure and function.

Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of

  1. pulmonary infections,
  2. disease exacerbations and
  3. worsened COPD outcomes.

On the top of that, coexistent OSA

  • may increase the risk for type 2 DM in some individuals.

The current scientific data necessitate a greater outlook on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and

  • chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may be viewed as a risk factor for
  • the new onset type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Conversely, both types of diabetes mellitus should be viewed as

  • strong contributing factors for the development of obstructive lung disease.

Such approach can potentially improve the outcomes and medical control for both conditions,

  • and, thus, decrease the healthcare burden of these major medical problems.

CONCLUSIONS

This discussion  presents a spectrum of cardiovascular risk associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus, with high risk for CVD, stroke, endothelial dysfunction, and an association with obesity, measured by waist circumference, and an underlying proinflammatory state that can be measured by CRP.

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Circulating Endothelial Progenitors Cells (cEPCs) as Biomarkers

Article Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

and

Topic Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Article ID #105: Circulating Endothelial Progenitors Cells (cEPCs) as Biomarkers. Published on 1/14/2014

WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman

Circulating progenitor cells have gained much interest rapidly in the past year primarily in identification of damaged tissue that has turnover of cells that are identifiable in the circulation.  This has to require a sensitivity for identification at one or two logs lower than circulating hematopoietic cells.  I mention this untested view only because cells of the circulation are detected routinely by automated hematology instruments like those of Beckman-Coulter and Siemens, with graphical presentation of results.  The Sysmex also reports immature granulocytes that are a small percent of the neutrophil count.  In the evaluation of leukemias, flow cytometry has been used for years, but require a preparative step.  Cell types have been identified by acidic and basic dye stains to identify basophilic, acidophilic and neutrophilic granulocyte series, and by size of the cell population, and nuclear features, differentiating mature and nucleated red cells, the granulocyte series, monocytes and lymphocytes, as well as platelets (aggregation gives an underestimate of platelet count).  But to detect cancer cells or damaged endothelial cells, the number of cells in the circulation requires and antibody to the surface with a visualizable ligand attached to an antibody for identification.  Visualization could be by a fluorophor, or perhaps a luciferase reaction.  Here are two articles that identify circulating endothelial cells, making them suitable for biomarkers of cardiovascular injury.  Whether they can detect early predictive ischemia, or frank AMI needs investigation.  The concept of piecemeal necrosis in the heart may be applicable to cardiomyocyte injury that is found unexpectedly at autopsy as “silent infarct”.

Circulating endothelial progenitors–cells as biomarkers

Rosenzweig, Anthony
N Engl J Med. 2005 Sep 8;353(10):1055-7

Comment on

Circulating endothelial progenitor cells and cardiovascular outcomes

[N Engl J Med. 2005]  PMID: 16148292 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Endothelial injury and dysfunction are thought to be critical events in the  pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Thus,

  • understanding the mechanisms that  maintain and restore endothelial function
    • may have important clinical  implications.

A series of clinical and basic studies prompted by the discovery 

  • of bone marrow derived endothelial progenitor cells1 have
  • provided insights into these processes and
    • opened a door to the development of new therapeutic approaches.

Growing evidence suggests that bone marrow derived endothelial progenitor cells circulate in the blood and

  • play an important role in the formation of new blood vessels as well as
  • contribute to vascular homeostasis in the adult.

Circulating endothelial progenitor cells were initially identified

  • through their expression of CD34
    (a surface marker common to hematopoietic stem cells and mature endothelial cells)
  • and vascular endothelial cell growth-factor receptor 2
    (VEGFR2 or kinase-domain related [KDR] receptor),

but not of other markers seen on fully differentiated endothelial cells.1

Subsequent studies have also used other identifiers, such as

  • the stem-cell marker CD133, and
  • functional assays, including
    • the ability to form endothelial colonies.

Endothelial progenitor cells defined in these ways probably represent

  • a heterogeneous population, which,
  • in combination with the lack of a consensual definition,

complicates the interpretation of work in this field.

Nevertheless, numerous studies in animals have shown that endothelial  progenitor cells can integrate into new and existing blood vessels.2,3,4
Intravenous injection of cytokine-mobilized human endothelial progenitor cells

  • improved myocardial neoangiogenesis and
  • the recovery of functioning in a rat model of infarction.3

Repeated injection of bone marrow derived cells in a mouse model of atherosclerosis

  • reduced the rate of plaque formation without altering serum lipids levels, and
  • donor endothelial progenitor cells could subsequently be identified in the recipient’s blood vessels.4

Previous clinical studies have shown that

  • traditional risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis
  • are associated with low levels of circulating endothelial progenitor cells,5 whereas
  • protective interventions, including statin therapy6 and exercise,7
    • appear to increase the supply of these cells.

Hill et al. found that even in healthy volunteers,

  • levels of endothelial progenitor cells were inversely correlated with the Framingham risk score and
  • actually appeared to predict vascular function better than the Framingham risk score.5

Together, these data suggest that circulating endothelial progenitor cells may participate

  • not only in forming new blood vessels
  • but also in maintaining the integrity and function of vascular  endothelium,

thereby mitigating disease processes such as atherosclerosis.

In this issue of the Journal, Werner and colleagues have further advanced our understanding of the clinical implications of endothelial progenitor cells.8 Endothelial progenitor cells were quantitated in 519 patients with coronary artery disease who

  • were followed for one year after undergoing catheterization.

Patients with higher levels of endothelial progenitor cells had

  • a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular causes and of
  • the composite end point of major cardiovascular events.

These relationships were preserved even

  • after adjustment for traditional risk factors and prognostic variables.

A similar relationship was seen

  • whether endothelial progenitor cells were  identified by virtue of expression
    either of CD34 and KDR or of CD133 or
  • because of their ability to form endothelial colonies,

further strengthening the authors’ conclusions. Repeated catheterization was not performed in this  cohort, so

  • we do not know whether the reduction in clinical events reflected a slowed progression of atherosclerosis or some other clinical effect.

A  dissociation between anatomical measures of atherosclerosis and clinical events has been well documented in other settings.

Although this study is consistent with prior work suggesting that circulating endothelial progenitor cells may play a protective role in vascular homeostasis, other explanations

  • for the association between endothelial progenitor number and outcome remain possible.

Changes in the number of endothelial progenitor cells and

  • in clinical events might reflect a common underlying etiology,
      • rather than a causal relation.

For example, a defect in the production of nitric oxide, which plays an important role

  • in both the mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells9 and blood-vessel function, might account for both observations.

Similarly, the number of endothelial progenitor cells

  • may mirror a person’s regenerative capacity more broadly and
  • predict clinical events on that basis.

Even if endothelial progenitor cells are mechanistically linked to clinical cardiovascular events,

  • such clinical studies do not distinguish between the possibility
  • that the protection is mediated through the integration of endothelial  progenitor cells into blood vessels and

its possible mediation by other  mechanisms, such as the

  • paracrine benefits of endothelial progenitor  cell secreted products.

Although such questions will undoubtedly continue to provide fertile ground  for fundamental investigation,

  • the report by Werner and colleagues has more  immediate clinical implications.

First, it suggests that circulating cell  populations may represent a new class of biomarkers

  • that naturally integrate  diverse genetic and environmental effects,
  • thereby providing robust  physiological and prognostic insights.

Second, in the context of coronary  disease, the study shows that

  • the number of endothelial progenitor cells is an independent predictor of hard clinical outcomes.

As with other biomarkers, a demonstration of clinical usefulness will ultimately require

  • the examination of other patient populations, as well as
  • a demonstration that clinical therapy can be guided and enhanced by this information.

Finally, the increased risk associated with reduced levels of endothelial progenitor cells

  • supports the growing interest in the therapeutic potential of enhancing the level of these cells.

The most dramatic extension of this line of reasoning involves

transferring  bone marrow or peripheral blood cells that are likely to include endothelial  progenitor cells to patients with coronary artery disease. Although it would be premature to judge the clinical success of these strategies, early trials, including one randomized (though incompletely blinded) trial, have suggested

  • at least short-term functional benefits of intracoronary infusion of bone marrow cells after acute infarction.10

Trials are planned to address more definitively the potential benefits of such cells

  • in the settings of acute infarction and chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Such efforts would be aided substantially by the identification of specific markers as well as

  • an improved understanding of the role of subtypes of endothelial progenitor cells and
  • of the mechanisms by which they work.

Ironically, the data presented by Werner and colleagues in combination with work showing

  • the impaired functioning of endothelial progenitor cells in high-risk patients5 suggest
  • that the patients most in need of endothelial progenitor cells may be
      • those who are least able to donate them for autologous transplantation.

Whether these limitations can be overcome through

  • ex vivo expansion or  genetic modification of endothelial progenitor cells is unclear.

In addition to possible cell-based therapies, work on endothelial progenitor cells provides yet another rationale

  • for redoubling efforts to comply with established therapeutic guidelines,
  • including lifestyle modifications and the use of statin therapy,
      • both of which appear to enhance the number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells.

Whether there will be a downside to enhancing the number and function of  endothelial progenitor cells remains unclear,

  • although obvious concerns  include exacerbating conditions that are characterized by adverse vessel  formation,
    • such as diabetic retinopathy and tumor angiogenesis.

Small studies have suggested an association between high levels of circulating endothelial progenitor cells and the risk of certain cancers, such as multiple myeloma.11 Moreover, studies in animals show that

  • bone marrow derived endothelial progenitors participate in tumor angiogenesis, thereby
      • enhancing tumor growth.12

In the study by Werner and colleagues,

  • the number of deaths from cardiovascular causes among patients with high levels of endothelial progenitor cells
  • was substantially lower than that among patients with lower levels of these cells,
  • without a reduction in the risk of death overall.8

Although this finding could raise the specter of a counterbalancing adverse effect of endothelial progenitor cells,

  • there was no apparent pattern in the deaths due to other causes,
  • and no deaths from cancer were noted in this population.

It is possible that as we learn more about the biology of endothelial progenitor cells, there may be opportunities

  • to target vessel formation more specifically.

In addition, therapeutic strategies

  • tailored to individualized risk will undoubtedly help in practice.

For example, in the study by Werner et al.,

  • patients in the group with the lowest baseline levels of endothelial progenitor cells
  • had a risk of death from cardiovascular causes of 8.3 percent during one year of follow-up,
  • suggesting that the benefits of enhancing the function and number of endothelial progenitor cells
      • may well outweigh the risks in such high-risk populations.

Additional studies will be necessary to address these questions definitively. Larger studies

  • of longer duration performed in different cohorts will be required to determine fully
    • the clinical usefulness of endothelial progenitor cells as a biomarker.

Rigorous interventional studies will indicate

  • whether levels of endothelial progenitor cells can be used to guide therapy and
  • whether cell transfer has a role in augmenting the levels of these cells.

Basic-science studies should help guide these clinical efforts by

  • further defining the desirable subpopulations of endothelial progenitor cells and
  • the mechanisms by which they mediate their effects.

By establishing a connection between circulating endothelial progenitor cells and hard clinical end points, Werner and colleagues

  • provide a potent stimulus for clinical and basic studies to address these important issues.

Source Information

From the Program in Cardiovascular Gene Therapy, Massachusetts General  Hospital, and Harvard Medical School ― both in Boston.

References

Asahara T, Murohara T, Sullivan A, et al. Isolation of putative progenitor  endothelial cells for angiogenesis. Science 1997;275:964-967.

Takahashi T, Kalka C, Masuda H, et al. Ischemia- and cytokine-induced  mobilization of bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells for  neovascularization. Nat Med 1999;5:434-438.

Kocher AA, Schuster MD, Szabolcs MJ, et al. Neovascularization of ischemic myocardium by human bone-marrow-derived angioblasts prevents cardiomyocyte apoptosis, reduces remodeling and improves cardiac function. Nat Med 2001; 7: 430-436.

Rauscher FM, Goldschmidt-Clermont PJ, Davis BH, et al. Aging, progenitor cell exhaustion, and atherosclerosis. Circulation 2003; 108: 457-463.

Hill JM, Zalos G, Halcox JPJ, et al. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells, vascular function, and cardiovascular risk. N Engl J Med 2003;348:593-600.

Vasa M, Fichtlscherer S, Adler K, et al. Increase in circulating endothelial  progenitor cells by statin therapy in patients with stable coronary artery  disease. Circulation 2001; 103: 2885-2890.

Laufs U, Werner N, Link A, et al. Physical training increases endothelial  progenitor cells, inhibits neointima formation, and enhances angiogenesis.  Circulation 2004; 109: 220-226.

Werner N, Kosiol S, Schiegl T, et al. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells and cardiovascular outcomes. N Engl J Med 2005; 353: 999-1007.

Aicher A, Heeschen C, Mildner-Rihm C, et al. Essential role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase for mobilization of stem and progenitor cells. Nat Med  2003; 9: 1370-1376.

Wollert KC, Meyer GP, Lotz J, et al. Intracoronary autologous bone-marrow  cell transfer after myocardial infarction: the BOOST randomised controlled  clinical trial. Lancet 2004; 364: 141-148.

Zhang H, Vakil V, Braunstein M, et al. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells in multiple myeloma: implications and significance. Blood 2005; 105: 3286-3294.

Lyden D, Hattori K, Dias S, et al. Impaired recruitment of bone-marrow-derived endothelial and hematopoietic precursor cells blocks tumor angiogenesis and growth. Nat Med 2001;7:1194-1201.

Fluid phase biopsy for detection and characterization of circulating endothelial cells in myocardial infarction.

Kelly Bethel, Madelyn S Luttgen, Samir Damani, Anand Kolatkar, Rachelle Lamy, Mohsen Sabouri-Ghomi, Sarah Topol, Eric J Topol, Peter Kuhn

Physical Biology (Impact Factor: 2.62). 01/2014; 11(1):016002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1478-3975/11/1/016002
Source: PubMed

Elevated levels of circulating endothelial cells (CECs) occur in response to various pathological conditions including myocardial infarction (MI). Here, we adapted

  • a fluid phase biopsy technology platform that successfully detects circulating tumor cells in the blood of cancer patients (HD-CTC assay),
  • to create a high-definition circulating endothelial cell (HD-CEC) assay for the detection and characterization of CECs.

Peripheral blood samples were collected from 79 MI patients, 25 healthy controls and six patients undergoing vascular surgery (VS). CECs were defined

  • by positive staining for DAPI, CD146 and von Willebrand Factor
  • and negative staining for CD45.

In addition, CECs exhibited distinct morphological features that

  • enable differentiation from surrounding white blood cells.
  1. CECs were found both as individual cells and as aggregates.
  2. CEC numbers were higher in MI patients compared with healthy controls.
  3. VS patients had lower CEC counts when compared with MI patients

but were not different from healthy controls.

Both HD-CEC and CellSearch® assays could discriminate

  • MI patients from healthy controls with comparable accuracy

but the HD-CEC assay exhibited

  • higher specificity while maintaining high sensitivity.

Our HD-CEC assay may be used as a robust diagnostic biomarker in MI patients.

MicroRNA function in endothelial cells

Solving the mystery of an unknown target gene using microRNA Target Site Blockers
Dr. Virginie Mattot
Dr. Virgine Mattot works in the team “Angiogenesis, endothelium activation and Cancer” directed by Dr. Fabrice Soncin at the Institut de Biologie de Lille in France where she studies the roles played by microRNAs in endothelial cells during physiological and pathological processes such as angiogenesis or endothelium activation. She has been using Target Site Blockers to investigate the role of microRNAs on putative targets which functions are yet unknown.
What is the main focus of the research conducted in your lab?
We are studying endothelial cell functions with a particular interest
  • in angiogenesis and endothelium activation during physiological and tumoral vascular development.
How did your research lead to the study of microRNAs?
A few years ago, we identified in my team
  • a new endothelial cell-specific gene which harbors a microRNA in its intronic sequence.

We have since been working on understanding

  • the functions of both this new gene and
  • its intronic microRNA in endothelial cells

What is the aim of your current project?

While we were searching for the functions of the intronic microRNA,
  • we identified an unknown gene as a putative target.
The aim of my project was to investigate if this unknown gene was actually a genuine target and
  • if regulation of this gene by the microRNA was involved in endothelial cell function.
We had already characterized the endothelial cell phenotype associated with the inhibition of our intronic microRNA.
We then used miRCURY LNA™ Target Site Blockers to demonstrate
  • that the expression of this unknown gene is actually controlled by this microRNA.
Further, we also demonstrated that the microRNA regulates
  • specific endothelial cell properties through regulation of this unknown gene.
How did you perform the experiments and analyze the results?
LNA™ enhanced target site blockers (TSB) for our microRNA were designed by Exiqon.
We transfected the TSBs into endothelial cells using our standard procedure and
  • analysed the induced phenotype.
As a control for these experiments, a mutated version of the TSB was designed by Exiqon and
  • transfected into endothelial cells.
We first verified that this TSB was functional by
  • analyzing the expression of the miRNA target
      • against which the TSB was directed in transfected cells.
Finally, we showed that the TSB induced similar phenotypes as those found when we inhibited the microRNA in the same cells. 
What were some specific challenges in your experiments and how did you overcome them?
The fact that the target gene for our microRNA was unknown was a major challenge. Without specific available tools, like antibodies,
  • it becomes difficult to demonstrate the effect of the microRNA on the gene in question and
  • to show that the unknown gene is indeed responsible for the functions of the microRNA.
However through the use of specific target site blockers, we were able to demonstrate
  • that this unknown gene was associated with the phenotype observed
    • when the microRNA was inhibited in endothelial cells.
How do you feel about your results so far?
We are very pleased with the results of the TSB experiments and
  • altogether these results demonstrate that our miRNA of interest
  • is functional in endothelial cells
    • through the regulation of a target gene with a previously unknown role.
What do you find to be the main benefits/advantage of the LNA™ microRNA target site blockers from Exiqon?

Target Site Blockers are efficient tools to demonstrate the

  • specific involvement of putative microRNA targets
  • in the function played by this microRNA.
The use of LNA™ allows the design of short oligonucleotides that are very specific and easy to work with. 
What would be your advice to colleagues about getting started with microRNA functional analysis?
In order to address the role played by a microRNA,
  • it is essential to perform both gain and loss of functions experiments.
What are the next steps in the current project and how do you plan to perform them?
We plan to use microRNA inhibitor libraries to identify
  • more microRNAs specifically involved in the processes that we currently study.
When and where will be hear /read more about your studies?
We are currently in the process of submitting a manuscript regarding the function of my microRNA of interest.

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Cardiovascular Risk Reduction in Diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa

Reporter and Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP 

 

In the immediate preceding article we discussed the problem of small subsistence farming and dependence on crop, and milk as a main source of food. We discussed the dilemma of unavailability of adequate nutrition, that posed a dilemma.  Insects invade and destroy the vegetation.  That can be avoided by either of two choices, crop-treatment with pesticide or by GMO crops resistant to types of destruction, both having unaffordable costs that impose an austere challenge and abject poverty with marginal after sales gains, in no way comparable to farming in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, or California, U.S.  So the situation could be improved by the introduction of/or development of a practical genome-based synthetic tehnology that might be free of Western dominance, if there were the home-based universities and scientific research.
I also touched on the consequences of the malnutrition in that region because of a diet that imposes either marasmic or kwashiorkor-like feature, the distinction being made based on the body compartment related to loss of fat mass or the loss of lean body mass, the latter being more serious.

Cardiovascular Risk Reduction in Diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa

The abstract of this discussion is directly taken from an article published in Clinical Medicine Insights: Cardiology; 2008: 2: 25-31,  Libertas Academica, ISSN(s):1178-1165.  Added to DOAJ: 2008-05-01
http://la-press.com/article.php?article_id=529

Cardiovascular Risk Reduction in Diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa: What should the Priorities be in the Absence of Global Risk Evaluation Tools?

Subjects: Diseases of the circulatory (Cardiovascular) system, Specialties of internal medicine, Internal medicine, Medicine, Cardiovascular, Medicine (General), Health Sciences
Andre Pascal Kengne, Alfred Kongnyu Njamnshi, Jean Claude Mbanya

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, risk factors, prevention, Sub-Saharan Africa

Background

The growing burden of type 2 diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and related cardiovascular complications call for vigorous actions into prevention. Comprehensive cardiovascular risk evaluation is important for the success of such actions.

Methods

We have reviewed 3 currently existing sets of recommendations for cardiovascular prevention in diabetes in SSA. Distribution of major risk factors and patterns of reported cardiovascular outcomes are used to suggest orientations for cardiovascular prevention in diabetes in this region. Papers and reports published over the period 1990 to 2007 were used.

Results

Existing guidelines share some similarities, but also have areas of inconsistencies. They are generally adaptations of existing guidelines, focused more on individual risk factors, and are not usually backed-up by local evidence.

  • They all have a projection on blood pressure lowering.

This focus is supported by the high prevalence of hypertension among people with diabetes in SSA.

  • Blood pressure and tobacco smoking are the modifiable risk factors accessible to evaluation and interventions on a wide scale in SSA.

Appropriate blood pressure control will have a major impact on stroke (the commonest cardiovascular disease) through

  • a reduction of the cerebrovascular risk, and
  • to a lesser extent on coronary heart disease and
  • total deaths in diabetes in this region.

Conclusions

In the absence of global risk evaluation tools,

  • the use of blood pressure lowering as a primary focus of cardiovascular prevention strategies is relevant for SSA.

However, there is a need to set-up diabetes and stroke registers

  • to monitor outcomes and generate tools for accurate risk prediction and management in diabetes in this region.

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Summary of Genomics and Medicine: Role in Cardiovascular Diseases

Summary of Genomics and Medicine: Role in Cardiovascular Diseases

Author: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

The articles within Chapters and Subchapters you have just read have been organized into four interconnected parts.
  1. Genomics and Medicine
  2. Epigenetics – Modifyable Factors Causing CVD
  3. Determinants of CVD – Genetics, Heredity and Genomics Discoveries
  4. Individualized Medicine Guided by Genetics and Genomics Discoveries
The first part established the
  • rapidly evolving science of genomics
  • aided by analytical and computational tools for the identification of nucleotide substitutions, or combinations of them
that have a significant association with the development of
  • cardiovascular diseases,
  • hypercoagulable state,
  • atherosclerosis,
  • microvascular disease,
  • endothelial disruption, and
  • type-2DM, to name a few.
These may well be associated with increased risk for stroke and/or peripheral vascular disease in some cases,
  • essentially because the involvement of the circulation is systemic in nature.

Part 1

establishes an important connection between RNA and disease expression.  This development has led to
  • the necessity of a patient-centric approach to patient-care.
When I entered medical school, it was eight years after Watson and Crick proposed the double helix.  It was also
  • the height of a series of discoveries elucidating key metabolic pathways.
In the period since then there have been treatments for some of the important well established metabolic diseases of
  • carbohydrate,
  • protein, and
  • lipid metabolism,
such as –  glycogen storage disease, and some are immense challenges, such as
  • Tay Sachs, or
  • Transthyretin-Associated amyloidosis.
But we have crossed a line delineating classical Mendelian genetics to
  • multifactorial non-linear traits of great complexity and
involving combinatorial program analyses to resolve.
The Human Genome Project was completed in 2001, and it has opened the floodgates of genomic discovery.  This resulted in the identification of
genomic alterations in
  • cardiovascular disease,
  • cancer,
  • microbial,
  • plant,
  • prion, and
  • metabolic diseases.
This has also led to
  • the identification of genomic targets
  • that are either involved in transcription or
  • are involved with cellular control mechanisms for targeted pharmaceutical development.
In addition, there is great pressure on the science of laboratory analytics to
  • codevelop with new drugs,
  • biomarkers that are indicators of toxicity or
  • of drug effectiveness.
I have not mentioned the dark matter of the genome. It has been substantially reduced, and has been termed dark because
  • this portion of the genome is not identified in transcription of proteins.
However, it has become a lightning rod to ongoing genomic investigation because of
  • an essential role in the regulation of nuclear and cytoplasmic activities.
Changes in the three dimensional structure of these genes due to
  • changes in Van der Waal forces and internucleotide distances lead to
  • conformational changes that could have an effect on cell activity.

Part 2

is an exploration of epigenetics in cardiovascular diseases.  Epigenetics is
  • the post-genomic modification of genetic expression
  • by the substitution of nucleotides or by the attachment of carbohydrate residues, or
  • by alterations in the hydrophobic forces between sequences that weaken or strengthen their expression.
This could operate in a manner similar to the conformational changes just described.  These changes
  • may be modifiable, and they
  • may be highly influenced by environmental factors, such as
    1. smoking and environmental toxins,
    2. diet,
    3. physical activity, and
    4. neutraceuticals.
While neutraceuticals is a black box industry that evolved from
  • the extraction of ancient herbal remedies of agricultural derivation
    (which could be extended to digitalis and Foxglove; or to coumadin; and to penecillin, and to other drugs that are not neutraceuticals).

The best examples are the importance of

  • n-3 fatty acids, and
  • fiber
  • dietary sulfur (in the source of methionine), folic acid, vitamin B12
  • arginine combined with citrulline to drive eNOS
  • and of iodine, which can’t be understated.
In addition, meat consumption involves the intake of fat that contains

  • the proinflammatory n-6 fatty acid.

The importance of the ratio of n-3/n-6 fatty acids in diet is not seriously discussed when

  • we look at the association of fat intake and disease etiology.
Part 2 then leads into signaling pathways and proteomics. The signaling pathways are
  • critical to understanding the inflammatory process, just as
  • dietary factors tie in with a balance that is maintained by dietary intake,
    • possibly gut bacteria utilization of delivered substrate, and
    • proinflammatory factors in disaease.
These are being explored by microfluidic proteomic and metabolomic technologies that were inconceivable a half century ago.
This portion extended into the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, and
  • elucidated the relationship between platelet-endothelial interaction in the formation of vascular plaque.
It explored protein, proteomic, and genomic markers
  1. for identifying and classifying types of disease pathobiology, and
  2. for following treatment measures.

Part 3

connected with genetics and genomic discoveries in cardiovascular diseases.

Part 4

is the tie between life style habits and disease etiology, going forward with
  • the pursuit of cardiovascular disease prevention.
The presentation of walking and running, and of bariatric surgery (type 2DM) are fine examples.
It further discussed gene therapy and congenital heart disease.  But the most interesting presentations are
  • in the pharmacogenomics for cardiovascular diseases, with
    1. volyage-gated calcium-channels, and
    2. ApoE in the statin response.

This volume is a splendid example representative of the entire collection on cardiovascular diseases.

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Introduction to Genomics and Epigenomics Roles in Cardiovascular Diseases

Introduction to Genomics and Epigenomics Roles in Cardiovascular Diseases

Author and Curator: Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP

This introduction is to a thorough evaluation of a rich source of research literature on the genomic influences, which may have variable strength in the biological causation of atherosclerosis, microvascular disease, plaque formation, not necessarily having expressing, except in a multivariable context that includes the environment, dietary factors, level of emotional stress, sleep habits, and the daily activities of living for affected individuals.  The potential of genomics is carried in the DNA, copied to RNA, and this is most well studied in the micro RNAs (miRNA).  The miRNA has been explored for the appearance in the circulation of specific miRNAs that might be associated with myocyte or endothelial cell injury, and they are also being used as targets for therapeutics by the creation of silencing RNAs (siRNA).  The extent to which there is evidence of success in these studies is limited, but is being translated from animal studies to human disease.  There is also a long history of the measurement of  circulating enzymes and isoenzymes (alanine amino transferase, creatine kinase, and lactate dehydrogenase, not to leave out the adenylate kinase species specific to myocardium), and more recently the release of troponins I and T, and the so far still not fully explored ischemia modified albumin, or of miRNAs for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction.

There is also a significant disagreement about the value of measuring high sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP), which has always been a marker for systemic inflammatory disease, in both chronic rheumatic and infectious diseases having a broad range, so that procalcitonin has appeared to be better for that situation, and for early diagnosis of sepsis. The hs-CRP has been too easily ignored because of

1. the ubiquitous elevations in the population
2. the expressed concerns that one might not be inclined to treat a mild elevation without other risk factors, such as, LDL cholesterolemia, low HDL, absent diabetes or obesity.  Nevertheless, hs-CRP raises an reasonable argument for preventive measures, and perhaps the use of a statin.

There has been a substantial amount of work on the relationship of obesity to both type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and to coronary vascular disease and stroke.  Here we bring in the relationship of the vascular endothelium, adipose tissue secretion of adiponectin, and platelet activation.  A whole generation of antiplatelet drugs addresses the mechanism of platelet activation, adhession, and interaction with endothelium.   Very interesting work has appeared on RESISTIN, that could bear some fruit in the treatment of both obesity and T2DM.

It is important to keep in mind that epigenomic gene rearrangements or substitutions occur throughout life, and they may have an expression late in life.  Some of the known epigenetic events occur with some frequency, but the associations are extremely difficult to pin down, as well as the strength of the association.  In a population that is not diverse, epigenetic changes are passed on in the population in the period of childbearing age.  The establishment of an epigenetic change is diluted in a diverse population.  There have been a number of studies with different findings of association between cardiovascular disease and genetic mutations in the Han and also in the Uyger Chinese populations, which are distinctly different populations that is not part of this discussion.

This should be sufficient to elicit broad appeal in reading this volume on cardiovascular diseases, and perhaps the entire series.  Below is a diagram of this volume in the series.

PART 1 – Genomics and Medicine
Introduction to Genomics and Medicine (Vol 3)
Genomics and Medicine: The Physician’s View
Ribozymes and RNA Machines
Genomics and Medicine: Genomics to CVD Diagnoses
Establishing a Patient-Centric View of Genomic Data
VIDEO:  Implementing Biomarker Programs ­ P Ridker PART 2 – Epigenetics – Modifiable
Factors Causing CVD
Diseases Etiology
   Environmental Contributors
Implicated as Causing CVD
   Diet: Solids and Fluid Intake
and Nutraceuticals
   Physical Activity and
Prevention of CVD
   Psychological Stress and
Mental Health: Risk for CVD
   Correlation between
Cancer and CVD
PART 3  Determinants of CVD – Genetics, Heredity and Genomics Discoveries
Introduction
    Why cancer cells contain abnormal numbers of chromosomes (Aneuploidy)
     Functional Characterization of CV Genomics: Disease Case Studies @ 2013 ASHG
     Leading DIAGNOSES of CVD covered in Circulation: CV Genetics, 3/2010 – 3/2013
     Commentary on Biomarkers for Genetics and Genomics of CVD
PART 4 Individualized Medicine Guided by Genetics and Genomics Discoveries
    Preventive Medicine: Cardiovascular Diseases
    Walking and Running: Similar Risk Reductions for Hypertension, Hypercholesterolemia,
DM, and possibly CAD
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2013/04/04/walking-and-running-similar-risk-reductions-for-hypertension-hypercholesterolemia-dm-and-possibly-cad/
    Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes: Is Bariatric Surgery the Solution?
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/23/prevention-of-type-2-diabetes-is-bariatric-surgery-the-solution/
Gene-Therapy for CVD
Congenital Heart Disease/Defects
   Medical Etiologies: EBM – LEADING DIAGNOSES, Risks Pharmacogenomics for Cardio-
vascular Diseases
   Signaling Pathways     Response to Rosuvastatin in
Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction:
Hepatic Metabolism and Transporter Gene
Variants Effect
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2014/
01/02/response-to-rosuvastatin-in-patients-
with-acute-myocardial-infarction-hepatic-
metabolism-and-transporter-gene-variants-effect/
   Proteomics and Metabolomics      Voltage-Gated Calcium Channel and Pharmaco-
genetic Association with Adverse Cardiovascular
Outcomes: Hypertension Treatment with Verapamil
SR (CCB) vs Atenolol (BB) or Trandolapril (ACE)
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2014/01/02/
voltage-gated-calcium-channel-and-pharmacogenetic-
association-with-adverse-cardiovascular-outcomes-
hypertension-treatment-with-verapamil-sr-ccb-vs-
atenolol-bb-or-trandolapril-ace/
      SNPs in apoE are found to influence statin response
significantly. Less frequent variants in
PCSK9 and smaller effect sizes in SNPs in HMGCR
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2014/01/02/snps-in-apoe-are-found-to-influence-statin-response-significantly-less-frequent-variants-in-pcsk9-and-smaller-effect-sizes-in-snps-in-hmgcr/

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Diagnostic Value of Cardiac Biomarkers

Diagnostic Value of Cardiac Biomarkers

Author and Curator: Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP 

These presentations covered several views of the utilization of cardiac markers that have evolved for over 60 years.  The first stage was the introduction of enzymatic assays and isoenzyme measurements to distinguish acute hepatitis and acute myocardial infarction, which included lactate dehydrogenase (LD isoenzymes 1, 2) at a time that late presentation of the patient in the emergency rooms were not uncommon, with the creatine kinase isoenzyme MB declining or disappeared from the circulation.  The world health organization (WHO) standard definition then was the presence of two of three:

1. Typical or atypical precordial pressure in the chest, usually with radiation to the left arm

2. Electrocardiographic changes of Q-wave, not previously seen, definitive; ST- elevation of acute myocardial injury with repolarization;
T-wave inversion.

3. The release into the circulation of myocardial derived enzymes –
creatine kinase – MB (which was adapted to measure infarct size), LD-1,
both of which were replaced with troponins T and I, which are part of the actomyosin contractile apparatus.

The research on infarct size elicited a major research goal for early diagnosis and reduction of infarct size, first with fibrinolysis of a ruptured plaque, and this proceeded into the full development of a rapidly evolving interventional cardiology as well as cardiothoracic surgery, in both cases, aimed at removal of plaque or replacement of vessel.  Surgery became more imperative for multivessel disease, even if only one vessel was severely affected.

So we have clinical history, physical examination, and emerging biomarkers playing a large role for more than half a century.  However, the role of biomarkers broadened.  Patients were treated with antiplatelet agents, and a hypercoagulable state coexisted with myocardial ischemic injury.  This made the management of the patient reliant on long term followup for Warfarin with the international normalized ratio (INR) for a standardized prothrombin time (PT), and reversal of the PT required transfusion with thawed fresh frozen plasma (FFP).  The partial thromboplastin test (PPT) was necessary in hospitalization to monitor the heparin effect.

Thus, we have identified the use of traditional cardiac biomarkers for:

1. Diagnosis
2. Therapeutic monitoring

The story is only the beginning.  Many patients who were atypical in presentation, or had cardiovascular ischemia without plaque rupture were problematic.  This led to a concerted effort to redesign the troponin assays for high sensitivity with the concern that the circulation should normally be free of a leaked structural marker of myocardial damage. But of course, there can be a slow leak or a decreased rate of removal of such protein from the circulation, and the best example of this would be the patient with significant renal insufficiency, as TnT is clear only through the kidney, and TNI is clear both by the kidney and by vascular endothelium.  The introduction of the high sensitivity assay has been met with considerable confusion, and highlights the complexity of diagnosis in heart disease.  Another test that is used for the diagnosis of heart failure is in the class of natriuretic peptides (BNP, pro NT-BNP, and ANP), the last of which has been under development.

While there is an exponential increase in the improvement of cardiac devices and discovery of pharmaceutical targets, the laboratory support for clinical management is not mature.  There are miRNAs that may prove valuable, matrix metalloprotein(s), and potential endothelial and blood cell surface markers, they require

1. codevelopment with new medications
2. standardization across the IVD industry
3. proficiency testing applied to all laboratories that provide testing
4. the measurement  on multitest automated analyzers with high capability in proteomic measurement  (MS, time of flight, MS-MS)

nejmra1216063_f1   Atherosclerotic Plaques Associated with Various Presentations               nejmra1216063_f2     Inflammatory Pathways Predisposing Coronary Arteries to Rupture and Thrombosis.        atherosclerosis progression

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Genomics and Medicine: The Physician’s View

Genomics and Medicine: The Physician’s View

Author and Curator: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

 

Genomics has had a rapid growth of research into variability of human genetics in both healthy populations in the study of population migration, and in the study of genetic sequence alterations that may increase the risk of expressed human disease.  This is the case for cardiology, cancer, inflammtory conditions, and gastrointestinal diseases. For the most part, genomics research in the last decade has shed light on potential therapeutic targets, but the identification of drug toxicities in late phase trials has been associated with a 70 percent failure rate in bringing new drugs to the market.   Despite good technologies for investigative studies, initial work is carried out on animals and then the transferrability of the work from a “model” to man has to be assured.  That is the first issue of concern.

Secondly, there is a well considered reluctance on the part of experienced and well prepared physicians to be “early” adopters to newly introduced drugs, with the apprehension that unidentified clinical problems can be expected to be unmasked.  It is, however, easier to consider when a new drug belongs to an established class of medications, and it has removed known adverse effects.  In this case, the adverse effects are known side effects, but not necessarily serious drug reactions that would preclude use.

A third consideration is the cost of drug development, and the cost of development is passed on to the healthcare organization in the purchasing cost. We can rest assured that the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Review Committee will not cease meeting on a regular schedule anytime soon.  Further, how do the drug failures become embedded in the cost of the pharmaceutical budget passed on to the recipient.  Historically, insurance is an actuarial discipline.  But in the lifetime of an individual, they are bound to see a physician for acute or chronic medical attention.  Only the timing cannot be predicted.  As a result, dealing with the valid introduction of new medications is a big concern for both the public and the private insurer.

How does this compute for the physician provider.  The practice of medicine is not quickly adaptive, as the physician’s primary concern is to do no harm.   Genomics testing is not widely available, and it is for the most part not definitive for diagnostic purposes as things stand today.  It may provide assessment of risk, or of survival expectation.  The physician uses a step by step assessment, using the patient and family history, a focused physical exam, laboratory and radiology, proceeding to other more specialized exams.  Much of the laboratory testing is based on the appearance in the circulation of changes in blood chemistry of the nature of electrolytes, circulating cells in the blood and of the blood forming organ, proteins, urea and uric acid.  They are not exquisitely sensitive, but they might be sufficient for their abnormal concentrations appearing at the time the patient presents with a complaint. What tests are ordered is determioned by a need for relevant information to make a medical decision.

The relevant questions are:

1. acuity of symptoms and signs.
2. actions to be taken.
3. tests that are needed to clarify the examination findings.

once a provisional diagnosis is obtained, referrals, additional testing, and medication orders are provided based on the assessment.

Where does genetic testing fit into this? At this point, it will only be used

  1. to confirm a restricted list of diagnoses that have a high association with the condition, and
  2. only with the participation of a medical geneticist, when
  3. profiling the patient and other members of the family is required.

10d0de1 Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci

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Curation, HealthCare System in the US, and Calcium Signaling Effects on Cardiac Contraction, Heart Failure, and Atrial Fibrillation, and the Relationship of Calcium Release at the Myoneural Junction to Beta Adrenergic Release

Curation, HealthCare System in the US, and Calcium Signaling Effects on Cardiac Contraction, Heart Failure, and Atrial Fibrillation, and the Relationship of Calcium Release at the Myoneural Junction to Beta Adrenergic Release

Curator and e-book Contributor: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP
Curator and BioMedicine e-Series Editor-in-Chief: Aviva Lev Ari, PhD, RN

and 

Content Consultant to Six-Volume e-SERIES A: Cardiovascular Diseases: Justin Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC

This portion summarises what we have covered and is now familiar to the reader.  There are three related topics, and an extension of this embraces other volumes and chapters before and after this reading.  This approach to the document has advantages over the multiple authored textbooks that are and have been pervasive as a result of the traditional publication technology.  It has been stated by the founder of ScoopIt, that amount of time involved is considerably less than required for the original publications used, but the organization and construction is a separate creative process.  In these curations we amassed on average five articles in one curation, to which, two or three curators contributed their views.  There were surprises, and there were unfulfilled answers along the way.  The greatest problem that is being envisioned is the building a vision that bridges and unmasks the hidden “dark matter” between the now declared “OMICS”, to get a more real perspective on what is conjecture and what is actionable.  This is in some respects unavoidable because the genome is an alphabet that is matched to the mino acid sequences of proteins, which themselves are three dimensional drivers of sequences of metabolic reactions that can be altered by the accumulation of substrates in critical placements, and in addition, the proteome has functional proteins whose activity is a regulatory function and not easily identified.  In the end, we have to have a practical conception, recognizing the breadth of evolutionary change, and make sense of what we have, while searching for more.

We introduced the content as follows:

1. We introduce the concept of curation in the digital context, and it’s application to medicine and related scientific discovery.

Topics were chosen were used to illustrate this process in the form of a pattern, which is mostly curation, but is significantly creative, as it emerges in the context of this e-book.

  • Alternative solutions in Treatment of Heart Failure (HF), medical devices, biomarkers and agent efficacy is handled all in one chapter.
  • PCI for valves vs Open heart Valve replacement
  • PDA and Complications of Surgery — only curation could create the picture of this unique combination of debate, as exemplified of Endarterectomy (CEA) vs Stenting the Carotid Artery (CAS), ischemic leg, renal artery stenosis.

2. The etiology, or causes, of cardiovascular diseases consist of mechanistic explanations for dysfunction relating to the heart or vascular system. Every one of a long list of abnormalities has a path that explains the deviation from normal. With the completion of the analysis of the human genome, in principle all of the genetic basis for function and dysfunction are delineated. While all genes are identified, and the genes code for all the gene products that constitute body functions, there remains more unknown than known.

3. Human genome, and in combination with improved imaging methods, genomics offers great promise in changing the course of disease and aging.

4. If we tie together Part 1 and Part 2, there is ample room for considering clinical outcomes based on individual and organizational factors for best performance. This can really only be realized with considerable improvement in information infrastructure, which has miles to go.

Curation

Curation is an active filtering of the web’s  and peer reviewed literature found by such means – immense amount of relevant and irrelevant content. As a result content may be disruptive. However, in doing good curation, one does more than simply assign value by presentation of creative work in any category. Great curators comment and share experience across content, authors and themes.
Great curators may see patterns others don’t, or may challenge or debate complex and apparently conflicting points of view.  Answers to specifically focused questions comes from the hard work of many in laboratory settings creatively establishing answers to definitive questions, each a part of the larger knowledge-base of reference. There are those rare “Einstein’s” who imagine a whole universe, unlike the three blindmen of the Sufi tale.  One held the tail, the other the trunk, the other the ear, and they all said this is an elephant!
In my reading, I learn that the optimal ratio of curation to creation may be as high as 90% curation to 10% creation. Creating content is expensive. Curation, by comparison, is much less expensive.  The same source says “Scoop.it is my content marketing testing “sandbox”. In sharing, he says that comments provide the framework for what and how content is shared.

Healthcare and Affordable Care Act

We enter year 2014 with the Affordable Care Act off to a slow start because of the implementation of the internet signup requiring a major repair, which is, unfortunately, as expected for such as complex job across the US, and with many states unwilling to participate.  But several states – California, Connecticut, and Kentucky – had very effective state designed signups, separate from the federal system.  There has been a very large rush and an extension to sign up. There are many features that we can take note of:

1. The healthcare system needed changes because we have the most costly system, are endowed with advanced technology, and we have inexcusable outcomes in several domains of care, including, infant mortality, and prenatal care – but not in cardiology.

2. These changes that are notable are:

  • The disparities in outcome are magnified by a large disparity in highest to lowest income bracket.
  • This is also reflected in educational status, and which plays out in childhood school lunches, and is also affected by larger class size and cutbacks in school programs.
  • This is not  helped by a large paralysis in the two party political system and the three legs of government unable to deal with work and distraction.
  • Unemployment is high, and the banking and home construction, home buying, and rental are in realignment, but interest rates are problematic.

3.  The  medical care system is affected by the issues above, but the complexity is not to be discounted.

  •  The medical schools are unable at this time to provide the influx of new physicians needed, so we depend on a major influx of physicians from other countries
  • The technology for laboratories, proteomic and genomic as well as applied medical research is rejuvenating the practice in cardiology more rapidly than any other field.
  • In fields that are imaging related the life cycle of instruments is shorter than the actual lifetime use of the instruments, which introduces a shortening of ROI.
  • Hospitals are consolidating into large consortia in order to maintain a more viable system for referral of specialty cases, and also is centralizing all terms of business related to billing.
  • There is reduction in independent physician practices that are being incorporated into the hospital enterprise with Part B billing under the Physician Organization – as in Partners in Greater Boston, with the exception of “concierge” medical practices.
  • There is consolidation of specialty laboratory services within state, with only the most specialized testing going out of state (Quest, LabCorp, etc.)
  • Medicaid is expanded substantially under the new ACA.
  • The federal government as provider of services is reducing the number of contractors for – medical devices, diabetes self-testing, etc.
  • The current rearrangements seeks to provide a balance between capital expenses and fixed labor costs that it can control, reduce variable costs (reagents, pharmaceutical), and to take in more patients with less delay and better performance – defined by outside agencies.

Cardiology, Genomics, and calcium ion signaling and ion-channels in cardiomyocyte function in health and disease – including heart failure, rhythm abnormalities, and the myoneural release of neurotransmitter at the vesicle junction.

This portion is outlined as follows:

2.1 Human Genome: Congenital Etiological Sources of Cardiovascular Disease

2.2 The Role of Calcium in Health and Disease

2.3 Vasculature and Myocardium: Diagnosing the Conditions of Disease

Genomics & Genetics of Cardiovascular Disease Diagnoses

actin cytoskeleton

wall stress, ventricular workload, contractile reserve

Genetic Base of Atherosclerosis and Loss of Arterial Elasticity with Aging

calcium and actin skeleton, signaling, cell motility

hypertension & vascular compliance

Genetics of Conduction Disease

Ca+ stimulated exostosis: calmodulin & PKC (neurotransmitter)

complications & MVR

disruption of Ca2+ homeostasis cardiac & vascular smooth muscle

synaptotagmin as Ca2+ sensor & vesicles

atherosclerosis & ion channels


It is increasingly clear that there are mutations that underlie many human diseases, and this is true of the cardiovascular system.  The mutations are mistakes in the insertion of a purine nucleotide, which may or may not have any consequence.  This is why the associations that are being discovered in research require careful validation, and even require demonstration in “models” before pursuing the design of pharmacological “target therapy”.  The genomics in cardiovascular disease involves very serious congenital disorders that are asserted early in life, but the effects of and development of atherosclerosis involving large and medium size arteries has a slow progression and is not dominated by genomic expression.  This is characterized by loss of arterial elasticity. In addition there is the development of heart failure, which involves the cardiomyocyte specifically.  The emergence of regenerative medical interventions, based on pleuripotent inducible stem cell therapy is developing rapidly as an intervention in this sector.

Finally, it is incumbent on me to call attention to the huge contribution that research on calcium (Ca2+) signaling has made toward the understanding of cardiac contraction and to the maintenance of the heart rhythm.  The heart is a syncytium, different than skeletal and smooth muscle, and the innervation is by the vagus nerve, which has terminal endings at vesicles which discharge at the myocyte junction.  The heart specifically has calmodulin kinase CaMK II, and it has been established that calmodulin is involved in the calcium spark that triggers contraction.  That is only part of the story.  Ion transport occurs into or out of the cell, the latter termed exostosis.  Exostosis involves CaMK II and pyruvate kinase (PKC), and they have independent roles.  This also involves K+-Na+-ATPase.  The cytoskeleton is also discussed, but the role of aquaporin in water transport appears elsewhere, as the transport of water between cells.  When we consider the Gibbs-Donnan equilibrium, which precedes the current work by a century, we recall that there is an essential balance between extracellular Na+ + Ca2+ and the intracellular K+ + Mg2+, and this has been superceded by an incompletely defined relationship between ions that are cytoplasmic and those that are mitochondrial.  The glass is half full!

 

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The Cost to Value Conundrum in Cardiovascular Healthcare Provision

The Cost to Value Conundrum in Cardiovascular Healthcare Provision

Author: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP

Article ID #98: The Cost to Value Conundrum in Cardiovascular Healthcare Provision. Published on 1/1/2014

WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman

I write this introduction to Volume 2 of the e-series on Cardiovascular Diseases, which curates the basic structure and physiology of the heart, the vasculature, and related structures, e.g., the kidney, with respect to:

1. Pathogenesis
2. Diagnosis
3. Treatment

Curation is an introductory portion to Volume Two, which is necessary to introduce the methodological design used to create the following articles. More needs not to be discussed about the methodology, which will become clear, if only that the content curated is changing based on success or failure of both diagnostic and treatment technology availability, as well as the systems needed to support the ongoing advances.  Curation requires:

  • meaningful selection,
  • enrichment, and
  • sharing combining sources and
  • creation of new synnthesis

Curators have to create a new perspective or idea on top of the existing media which supports the content in the original. The curator has to select from the myriad upon myriad options available, to re-share and critically view the work. A search can be overwhelming in size of the output, but the curator has to successfully pluck the best material straight out of that noise.

Part 1 is a highly important treatment that is not technological, but about the system now outdated to support our healthcare system, the most technolog-ically advanced in the world, with major problems in the availability of care related to economic disparities.  It is not about technology, per se, but about how we allocate healthcare resources, about individuals’ roles in a not full list of lifestyle maintenance options for self-care, and about the important advances emerging out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), impacting enormously on Medicaid, which depends on state-level acceptance, on community hospital, ambulatory, and home-care or hospice restructuring, which includes the reduction of management overhead by the formation of regional healthcare alliances, the incorporation of physicians into hospital-based practices (with the hospital collecting and distributing the Part B reimbursement to the physician, with “performance-based” targets for privileges and payment – essential to the success of an Accountable Care Organization (AC)).  One problem that ACA has definitively address is the elimination of the exclusion of patients based on preconditions.  One problem that has been left unresolved is the continuing existence of private policies that meet financial capabilities of the contract to provide, but which provide little value to the “purchaser” of care.  This is a holdout that persists in for-profit managed care as an option.  A physician response to the new system of care, largely fostered by a refusal to accept Medicaid, is the formation of direct physician-patient contracted care without an intermediary.

In this respect, the problem is not simple, but is resolvable.  A proposal for improved economic stability has been prepared by Edward Ingram. A concern for American families and businesses is substantially addressed in a macroeconomic design concept, so that financial services like housing, government, and business finance, savings and pensions, boosting confidence at every level giving everyone a better chance of success in planning their personal savings and lifetime and business finances.

http://macro-economic-design.blogspot.com/p/book.html

Part 2 is a collection of scientific articles on the current advances in cardiac care by the best trained physicians the world has known, with mastery of the most advanced vascular instrumentation for medical or surgical interventions, the latest diagnostic ultrasound and imaging tools that are becoming outdated before the useful lifetime of the capital investment has been completed.  If we tie together Part 1 and Part 2, there is ample room for considering  clinical outcomes based on individual and organizational factors for best performance. This can really only be realized with considerable improvement in information infrastructure, which has miles to go.  Why should this be?  Because for generations of IT support systems, they are historically focused on billing and have made insignificant inroads into the front-end needs of the clinical staff.

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