Abstract Background There are substantial opportunities to improve the quality of cardiovascular care in developing countries through the implementation of a quality program. Objective To evaluate the effect of a Best Practice in Cardiology (BPC) program on performance measures and patient outcomes related to heart failure, atrial fibrillation and acute coronary syndromes in a subset of Brazilian public hospitals. Methods The Boas Práticas em Cardiologia (BPC) program was adapted from the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) […]

Background: Left ventricular remodeling (LVR) is related to both non-fatal and fatal outcomes. Objective: To describe the geometric patterns of the LV and their associations. Methods: A total of 636 individuals between the ages of 45 and 99 years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were submitted to clinical evaluation, laboratory tests, electrocardiogram, and tissue Doppler echocardiography (TDE). The difference between categories was tested with Kruskall-Wallis with post hoc tests, once all variables studied are non-normally distributed and Pearson’s Qui-square (categorical […]

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of mortality. High circulating levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in the blood are associated with cardiovascular mortality, whether through an etiological role or through its association with the progression of CAD per se. Randomized clinical trials have shown that, when LDL levels are reduced, cardiovascular risk is also reduced, which reinforces this association. The first major trial involving a hypolipidemic agent of the statin family, the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study […]

Background: The Coronary Artery Disease Education Questionnaire (CADE-Q), an instrument aimed at assessing patients’ knowledge about coronary artery disease (CAD), was originally developed and psychometrically validated in Brazil. It was later translated, cross-culturally adapted, and validated to English. Although both versions demonstrated good reliability and validity, new studies in the area have pointed out the need of implementing the CADE-Q with other components of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs, such as psychologic factors, which had not been considered in previous version […]

Abstract Background: Obesity is recognized as a major risk factor for the development of several metabolic complications. However, some obese individuals have a favorable metabolic profile. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify an easy parameter for recognizing metabolically healthy obese (MHO) women. Methods: A total of 292 non-diabetic women with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2 were selected, and 239 composed the final cohort. We classified the participants according to their metabolic state determined by […]

Abstract MiRNA (or microRNA) is a subclass of non-coding RNAs that is responsible for post-transcriptional gene regulation. It has approximately 22 nucleotides and regulates gene expression in plants and animals at the post-transcriptional level, by the cleavage of a target mRNA or by suppression of its translation. Although many of the processes and mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated, there is a strong association between miRNA expression and several diseases. It is known that miRNAs are expressed in the […]

Human microcirculation has some aspects that make it unique in its capacity to adjust the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the metabolic demands of all cells throughout the body by adjusting vascular tone and releasing different vasoactive substances. Endothelium-dependent vasodilation response in humans may vary according to age, gender, the vascular bed involved and the presence of atherosclerotic disease. Vascular smooth muscle cells undergo different hyperpolarization and relaxation when exposed to nitric oxide (NO), prostacyclin and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factors […]