sodium-ethylxanthate and Coronary-Artery-Disease

Smoking is a major cause of coronary heart disease for both men and women and a positive correlation between tobacco use and cerebrovascular disease has been also described. In addition, cigarette smoking is the most powerful risk factor predisposing to atherosclerotic peripheral artery disease. More recently, passive smoking has been also shown to represent an important risk factor for coronary artery disease. Moreover, the incidence of coronary artery and cerebrovascular diseases in ex-smokers consistently decreases after cessation, further underlying the relevance of smoking as a risk factor for these pathological conditions. The effects of cigarette smoking on atherosclerosis initiation and progression as well on its complications are mostly responsible for the enhanced cardio- and cerebrovascular risk observed in smoking compared to non-smoking subjects. Since hormonal status may also play a role in the development and stability of the atherosclerotic plaque, smoking habits could influence the clinical complications of atheroclerosis in a gender dependent manner. Up to now, however, few studies have investigated the relative importance of smoking as a risk factor for fatal and non-fatal diseases in the two sexes within the same study population. On the basis of available clinical data, this review will discuss the risk of fatal and non-fatal diseases among smoking men and women with special emphasis on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease which also represents the most common cause of death among smokers. A description of the mechanisms involved in the tobacco-induced atherosclerotic damage will be also given in order to underline possible gender-related differences.

Topics: Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; Adult; Aged; Calcium Channel Blockers; Coronary Artery Disease; Drug Administration Schedule; Endothelium, Vascular; Estrogens; Female; Humans; Lipids; Male; Middle Aged; Risk; Sex; Smoking; Smoking Cessation; Stroke; Tobacco Smoke Pollution

This study investigated the effects of androgens on gene expression in male- and female-donor macrophages.. Men have more severe coronary disease than women. Androgen exposure increases foam cell formation in male but not female macrophages, and male macrophages express >4-fold more androgen receptor messenger ribonucleic acid than female macrophages. Therefore, androgen exposure may have gender-specific and potentially pro-atherogenic effects in macrophages.. Utilizing complementary deoxyribonucleic acid arrays, we studied the effects of a pure androgen (dihydrotestosterone, 40 nmol/l) on human monocyte-derived macrophages from healthy male and female donors (n = 4 hybridizations; 2 men, 2 women). Differential expression of atherosclerosis-related genes was confirmed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in five male and five female donors. Functional corroboration of foam cell formation-related findings was undertaken by experiments using (125)I-acetylated low-density lipoprotein (AcLDL).. In male macrophages, androgen treatment produced differential up-regulation of 27 genes concentrated in five functional classes: 1) lipoprotein processing; 2) cell-surface adhesion; 3) extracellular signaling; 4) coagulation and fibrinolysis; and 5) transport protein genes. By contrast, none of 588 genes were up-regulated in female macrophages. By RT-PCR, we confirmed the gender-specific up-regulation of six of these atherosclerosis-related genes: acyl coenzyme A:cholesterol acyl transferase I, lysosomal acid lipase (LAL), caveolin-2, CD40, vascular endothelial growth factor-165 receptor, and tissue factor pathway inhibitor. Functionally, androgen-treated male macrophages showed increased rates of lysosomal AcLDL degradation, by 45% to 75% after 15 to 20 h of (125)I-AcLDL incubation (p = 0.001), consistent with increased LAL activity.. Androgens increase expression of atherosclerosis-related genes in male but not female macrophages, with functional consequences. These findings may contribute to the male predisposition to atherosclerosis.

Topics: Adult; Coronary Artery Disease; Dihydrotestosterone; DNA Primers; DNA, Complementary; Female; Humans; Iodine Radioisotopes; Lipase; Macrophages; Male; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sex; Sterol O-Acyltransferase; Up-Regulation

A retrospective study was designed to determine the background characteristics of 9562 patients hospitalized in Saskatchewan during the calendar years 1958-1959-1960 with a discharge diagnosis of heart disease specified as involving the coronary arteries. The study illustrates the limitations of retrospective analyses, but points out that such analyses may highlight presumptive relevant variables in the search for causes of diseases with multiple possible interacting origins. Single persons, and in particular single females, were significantly much less susceptible than were persons who were married or who had been married. This is a previously unreported finding, to the authors' knowledge. Residents of farms and hamlets were hospitalized significantly less often than were village, town or city residents; it is suggested that this may corroborate the findings of Morris and others who feel that the physical activity of work may be a relevant variable in the etiology of coronary heart disease.

Topics: Adolescent; Aging; Canada; Child; Coronary Artery Disease; Coronary Disease; Diet; Environment; Geriatrics; Hospitalization; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Marriage; Mortality; Occupations; Retrospective Studies; Saskatchewan; Sex; Statistics as Topic

Topics: Aging; Blood Pressure; Blood Pressure Determination; Cholesterol; Coronary Artery Disease; Coronary Disease; Dietary Fats; Humans; Lipids; Sex; Sri Lanka; Statistics as Topic

Topics: Black People; Cholesterol; Coronary Artery Disease; Coronary Disease; Diet; Epidemiology; Georgia; Geriatrics; Humans; Occupations; Physical Exertion; Sex; Sociology; White People

Topics: Arteriosclerosis; Atherosclerosis; Autopsy; Coronary Artery Disease; Coronary Disease; Death, Sudden; Death, Sudden, Cardiac; Humans; Poland; Sclerosis; Sex; Statistics as Topic

Topics: Aging; Coronary Artery Disease; Family; Humans; Maryland; Mortality; Myocardial Infarction; Myocardial Ischemia; Sex; Statistics as Topic; United States

Topics: Aorta, Abdominal; Aortic Diseases; Black People; Calcinosis; Coronary Artery Disease; Coronary Disease; Geriatrics; Humans; Pathology; Sex; White People

Topics: Coronary Artery Disease; Coronary Disease; England; Epidemiology; Geriatrics; Humans; Male; Mortality; Prevalence; Sex; Wales

Viscosity of whole blood and plasma was measured in 258 apparently healthy subjects of both sexes from 5 to 60 years of age, and in 86 patients with unequivocal evidence of chronic coronary heart disease. Children and young healthy females had the lowest viscosity readings. Healthy young and middle-aged males had significantly higher blood viscosity than females. Patients with coronary heart disease had significantly higher blood viscosity values than healthy groups of the same sex. It is suggested that the higher viscosity of whole blood and of plasma is a contributory factor in development of clinical manifestations of coronary heart disease and possibly of the basic vascular lesion itself.

Topics: Adolescent; Aging; Arteriosclerosis; Blood Viscosity; Child; Coitus; Coronary Artery Disease; Coronary Disease; Female; Geriatrics; Healthy Volunteers; Humans; Infant; Male; Middle Aged; Plasma; Sex; Statistics as Topic

Topics: Aging; Autopsy; Coronary Artery Disease; Coronary Disease; Geriatrics; Humans; Mast Cells; Myocardial Infarction; Myocardium; Pathology; Sex; Statistics as Topic