Cardiovascular Diseases Commons^™

Association Of Body Mass Index With Blood Pressure Among 1.7 Million Chinese Adults, Khurram Nasir

All Publications

No abstract provided.

The Neuroprotective Effects Of Targeted Temperature Management On Post-Cardiac Arrest Patients, Timothy Hovde

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Papers

Novel methods of ensuring survival following cardiac arrest and resuscitation are of supreme importance to the medical community. Targeted temperature management (TTM) has become increasingly utilized pre-hospital, in emergency departments, and within intensive care units to increase the likelihood of survival to hospital discharge. TTM has further been used to attempt to improve neurological functioning. The efficacy and mechanism behind TTM remains poorly understood. In several patient populations it also remains unproven. The purpose of this study is to assess the physiological mechanism, survival, neurological recovery and methodology of TTM use and implementation.

Literature review was utilized to assess the …

Systemic Therapy Versus Catheter Directed Techniques For The Treatment Of Acute Massive Pulmonary Embolism, Lawrence Duane Lee

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Papers

Acute massive pulmonary embolism is characterized by obstruction of the pulmonary arterial tree that exceeds 50% of the cross-sectional area causing acute and severe cardiopulmonary failure from right ventricular overload. Systemic thrombolytic therapy is recommended as standard, first-line treatment in patients with massive pulmonary embolism unless contraindicated and catheter directed therapies, including low dose thrombolytic administration directly into thrombus and mechanical thrombectomy can be adjunctive or used as an alternative to systemic treatments. This literature review researched articles looking both systemic thrombolysis and endovascular techniques for the treatment of acute massive pulmonary embolism with an emphasis on long term clinical …

The Impact Of Circadian Misalignment On Cardiometabolic Health, Cynthia Marie Mills

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Papers

The circadian system is important in all living organisms because it generates a 24-hour rhythm for physiological and behavioral processes enabling anticipation and adaptation to daily changes in the environment. The prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases, which are linked to lifestyle choices, has been rising at an alarming rate. Modernization and globalization are two of many factors to blame for lifestyle changes resulting in circadian disruption. The purpose of this literature review is to explore circadian misalignment with regards to its mechanism and impact on cardiometabolic health and to determine possible interventional measures. The primary focus is on lifestyle change, particularly …

Pre-Participation Physical Examination: Are Current Cardiovascular Recommendations Enough?, Steven Jacob Pietrusza

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Papers

Inclusion of screening electrocardiograms (EKGs) during pre-participation physical examination has been a topic of debate for some time. There is unquestioned usefulness in the ability of a well-trained health care provider in using EKG to identify cardiac abnormalities. Further, there have been several contemporary EKG criteria published that increase specificity and sensitivity of detection of disease. However, these criteria do not account for athletes less than 14 years of age, and that demographic represents a large portion of patients seeking pre-participation screenings in the United States. The lack of research into pediatric cardiac remodeling secondary to activity, coupled with the …

The Efficacy And Safety Of Statins In The Primary Prevention Of Cardiovascular Disease, Kayla M. Ashton

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Posters

Atherosclerotic plaques can form in the blood vessels from particles of cholesterol. These plaques are a major cause of cardiovascular disease and have the ability to result in fatal cardiovascular events. In researching this topic, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, DynaMed, and ClinicalKey were all utilized in finding articles published from 2002 to 2018. There are several organizations with conflicting guidelines recommending the use of statin medications in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The research evaluated discovers data is inconclusive on the benefit of statin medications in this primary prevention as well as the safety of long-term statin use. Some …

Systemic Therapy Versus Catheter Directed Techniques For The Treatment Of Acute Massive Pulmonary Embolism, Lawrence Duane Lee

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Posters

•Acute massive pulmonary embolism is characterized by obstruction of the pulmonary arterial tree that exceeds 50% of the cross-sectional area causing acute and severe cardiopulmonary failure from right ventricular overload.

•Systemic thrombolytic therapy is recommended as standard, first-line treatment in patients with massive pulmonary embolism unless contraindicated and catheter directed therapies, including low dose thrombolytic administration directly into thrombus and mechanical thrombectomy can be adjunctive or used as an alternative to systemic treatments.

•This literature review researched articles looking at both systemic thrombolysis and endovascular techniques for the treatment of acute massive pulmonary embolism with an emphasis on long term …

Controlling Platelet Secretion To Modulate Hemostasis And Thrombosis, Smita Joshi

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Upon vascular injury, activated blood platelets fuse their granules to the plasma membrane and release cargo to regulate the vascular microenvironment, a dynamic process central to platelet function in many critical processes including hemostasis, thrombosis, immunity, wound healing, angiogenesis etc. This granule- plasma membrane fusion is mediated by a family of membrane proteins- Soluble N-ethyl maleimide Attachment Receptor Proteins(SNAREs). SNAREs that reside on vesicle (v-SNAREs) /Vesicle-Associated Membrane Proteins(VAMPs) interact with target/t-SNAREs forming a trans-bilayer complex that facilitates granule fusion. Though many components of exocytic machinery are identified, it is still not clear how it could be manipulated to prevent …

Workplace Standing Desks And Arterial Stiffness, Ian Greenlund

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Many jobs in today’s society require sitting at a desk with little physical activity. Individuals who engage in ten hours of sedentary behavior per day double their CVD risk. Standing desks are thought to decrease sedentary time and improve cardiovascular health. Acute use of standing desks is shown to lower PWV. However, chronic effects remain unknown. Forty eight participants qualified as seated (19 females, 5 males: age 41 ± 2 years, BMI 25 ± 1 kg/m²) or standing (21 females, 3 males: age 45 ± 2 years, BMI 25 ± 1 kg/m²) groups based on habitual …

Health Systems Readiness For Adopting Mhealth Interventions For Addressing Non-Communicable Diseases In Low- And Middle-Income Countries: A Current Debate, Anam Shahil Feroz, Muhammad Masood Kadir, Sarah Saleem

Community Health Sciences

In low-and-middle-income countries, epidemiologic transition is taking place very rapidly from communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases. NCDs mortality rates are increasing faster and nearly 80% of NCDs deaths occur in LMICs. Existing weak health systems of LMICs are undergoing a devastating human and economic toll as a result of increasing treatment costs and losses to productivity from NCDs. At the same time, the increasing penetration of mobile phone technology and the spread of cellular network and infrastructure have led to the introduction of the mHealth field. While mHealth field offers a great promise to prevent and control non-communicable diseases in …

Knockdown Of Heparan Sulfate Via Ndst1 Knockout Does Not Inhibit Mouse Aortic Endothelial Cell Alignment In-Vivo, John Diaz De Leon Iii

Dissertations and Theses

Atherosclerotic plaque localizes in predictable areas such as arches and bifurcations which are characterized by disturbed flow patterns and the resulting damage and dysfunction to the endothelium. Endothelial cells (ECs) under sustained laminar flow align in the direction of flow; however, under disturbed flow conditions, ECs sustain damage to their glycocalyx (GCX) which results in unaligned and rounder cells. An investigation into the role of NDST1 sulfation of heparan sulfate (HS), a key component of many proteoglycans which make up the GCX, was conducted. The descending aortas (DAs) of transgenic mice with conditional knockouts (KOs) of NDST1 in vascular ECs …

Perceptions Of Health Professionals In Ghana On The Role Of The Community In Chronic Disease Management, Jesuseme Omoruan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The prevalence of chronic disease has been on the rise in various developing countries. This study is an exploratory investigation of the perceptions of health professionals in Kumasi, Ghana on the role of the community in chronic disease management. Using the Chronic Care Model as a framework, the objective of the study was to examine the extent of community-healthcare system in chronic disease management and to explore the barriers to and facilitators of community involvement in chronic disease management. By exploring the availability of community resources that positively contribute to the management of these patients, the study fills an existing …

Hypertension Prevalence Trends Among Mexican-Americans: Nhanes 1999-2016, Sandra S. Valencia

All Master's Theses

Hypertension is a grave health issue affecting millions of adults in the United States (US). Uncontrolled hypertension can lead to cardiovascular disease, including stroke, heart attack, and heart failure. Current National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2016 data reports that 29% of US adults above the age of 18 have hypertension. The objective of this project was to determine current and past hypertension prevalence trends among Mexican Americans (MAs) and non-Hispanic whites (NH-Whites) using NHANES data from 1999 to 2016, as well as the current American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) blood pressure guidelines of …

Age-Dependent Changes In Oxygen Supply And Demand Of Rat Spinotrapezius Muscle, Sami C. Dodhy

Theses and Dissertations

Because of the aerobic nature of cellular metabolism in mammalian organisms, a continuous supply of oxygen is necessary to maintain normal physiological function. As organisms age, their metabolic rates generally decline and there are accompanying alterations in the structure and function of the microcirculation, as this part of the cardiovascular system is especially important for oxygen exchange. The overall Oxygen Transport System can be considered as being composed of two complementary components: one for Oxygen Demand and one for Oxygen Supply. The purpose of the current work is to describe the age-dependent changes in both oxygen demand and oxygen supply …

Counterregulatory Effects Of Ptx3 On Inflammation And Cellular Aging, Aaron L. Slusher

Theses and Dissertations

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a vital regulator of innate immune function that has been shown to counterregulate pro-inflammatory signaling and protect against the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Less is known about how PTX3 may mitigate against CVD risk by regulating the pro-inflammatory response at the cellular level. Therefore, this dissertation details four manuscripts which aimed to examine the capacity of PTX3 to regulate the innate immune response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from healthy adults. Manuscript 1 examined the capacity of PTX3 to alter the inflammatory milieu following in vitro stimulation of isolated PBMCs with the pro-inflammatory …

Effects Of The Na-Cl Co-Transporter (Ncc) In Western Diet Induced Metabolic And Cardiac Dysfunction, Zachary S. Cutter

Theses and Dissertations

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine known to be involved in maintaining metabolic homeostasis; however, also capable of inducing cardiac dysfunction. Additionally, IL-18, has been shown to bind to a novel receptor, the Na-Cl Co-transporter (NCC). We hypothesized that NCC mediates IL-18 metabolic and cardiac signaling in mice. Using male C57BL/6J mice, we compared the metabolic and cardiac function changes after at least 8 weeks of high-saturated fat high sugar diet (Western Diet) in NCC knockout (NCCKO), IL-18 knockout (IL-18KO), and wild-type mice. We show that NCCKO mice have significantly increased body weight gain from baseline, no difference in fasting …

Flavonoid-Rich Apple Improves Endothelial Function In Individuals At Risk For Cardiovascular Disease: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial, Nicola P. Bondonno, Catherine P. Bondonno, Lauren C. Blekkenhorst, Michael J. Considine, Ghassan Maghzal, Roland Stocker, Richard J. Woodman, Natalie C. Ward, Jonathan M. Hodgson, Kevin D. Croft

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Scope

The cardioprotective effects of apples are primarily attributed to flavonoids, found predominantly in the skin. This study aimed to determine if acute and/or chronic (4 weeks) ingestion of flavonoid-rich apples improves endothelial function, blood pressure (BP), and arterial stiffness in individuals at risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

Methods and results

In this randomized, controlled cross-over trial, acute and 4 week intake of apple with skin (high flavonoid apple, HFA) is compared to intake of apple flesh only (low flavonoid apple, LFA) in 30 participants. The primary outcome is endothelial function assessed using flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery, …

Robotic Arm Rehabilitation In Chronic Stroke Patients With Aphasia May Promote Speech And Language Recovery (But Effect Is Not Enhanced By Supplementary Tdcs), Adam Buchwald, Carolyn Falconer, Avrielle Rykman-Peltz, Mar Cortes, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Gary W. Thickbroom, Hermano Igo Krebs, Felipe Fregni, Linda M. Gerber, Clara Oromendia, Johanna Chang, Bruce T. Volpe, Dylan J. Edwards

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objective: This study aimed to determine the extent to which robotic arm rehabilitation for chronic stroke may promote recovery of speech and language function in individuals with aphasia.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled 17 individuals from a hemiparesis rehabilitation study pairing intensive robot assisted therapy with sham or active tDCS and evaluated their speech (N = 17) and language (N = 9) performance before and after a 12-week (36 session) treatment regimen. Performance changes were evaluated with paired t-tests comparing pre- and post-test measures. There was no speech therapy included in the treatment protocol.

Results: Overall, the individuals …