Biomedical subjects

R Salonen

Publications and source records attributed to R Salonen.

184 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Ultrasonographically assessed carotid morphology and the risk of coronary heart disease.

As ultrasonographically assessed carotid arteriosclerosis is being used as a surrogate measure for coronary arteriosclerosis, we performed a prospective longitudinal study of the association of our high-resolution ultrasound assessment of extracranial carotid morphology with the risk of acute coronary events in 1,288 eastern Finnish men. The presence of any structural changes in the common carotid arteries or carotid bulbs was associated with a 3.29-fold (95% confidence interval, 1.31-8.29; p = 0.0074), intimal-medial thickening with a 2.17-fold (95% confidence interval, 0.70-6.74; p = NS), small carotid plaques with a 4.15-fold (95% confidence interval, 1.51-11.47; p less than 0.01), and large ("stenotic") plaques with a 6.71-fold (95% confidence interval, 1.33-33.91; p less than 0.01) risk of acute myocardial infarction compared with men free of any structural changes in the carotid artery wall at baseline. These data confirm the close relation between carotid artery wall morphology and coronary heart disease.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis and serum cholesterol levels in eastern Finland.

We investigated the prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis and its association with serum lipoprotein cholesterol fractions in 412 Eastern Finnish men ages 42, 48, 54, or 60 years who were examined between February and December 1987 in the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study. Carotid atherosclerosis was assessed with high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography. Of the participants, 37% had thickening of the intimal or medial layer of the arterial wall, 10% had plaques, 2% had stenosis in the right or left common carotid artery or in the carotid bifurcation, and only 51% were free of any detectable carotid atherosclerosis. The prevalence of atherosclerosis was 14.1%, 32.0%, 67.7%, and 81.9% in the four age groups, respectively. The mean age-adjusted serum low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentration was 3.67 mmol/l (142 mg/dl) in men free of carotid atherosclerosis and 4.02 mmol/l (155 mg/dl) in those with at least intimal thickening (p = 0.003 for difference). The mean age-adjusted serum cholesterol concentration in the high density lipoprotein (HDL) fraction was 1.34 mmol/l (52 mg/dl) in the atherosclerosis-free and 1.27 mmol/l (49 mg/dl) in the atherosclerotic men (p = 0.029 for difference). There was a similar difference in both the serum HDL2 and the HDL3 cholesterol levels. Serum LDL and HDL (inverse) cholesterol were significant determinants of severity of carotid atherosclerosis in a multivariate regression model adjusting for age, obesity, plasma fibrinogen, cigarette-years, and duration of hypertension. Our data reveal the high prevalence of atherosclerosis in middle-aged Eastern Finnish men and provide further evidence of the roles of LDL and HDL cholesterol in atherosclerosis.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Naratriptan.

The new 5-HT1B/1D agonist naratriptan, introduced in many countries in 1997 and 1998 for the acute treatment of migraine, was designed to complement the sumatriptan portfolio of offerings (including the injection, the tablets, the nasal spray, and in some countries, the suppository) by offering patients excellent tolerability and a sustained duration of action. Clinical studies on naratriptan, including more than 4000 patients treating more than 15,000 migraine attacks, show that naratriptan tablets 2.5 mg are distinguished from other 5-HT1B/1D agonists for migraine on the basis of their excellent tolerability profile, which does not differ from that of placebo. In addition to its tolerability, naratriptan tablets 2.5 mg possess a long duration of action with a low incidence of headache recurrence (17-28% in phase II and III clinical trials). With its tolerability profile and long duration of action, naratriptan tablets 2.5 mg may be particularly appropriate as a single-dose alternative to NSAIDs and analgesics, which often are not effective in migraine but are used because of tolerability considerations.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Brain pathology in the Meckel syndrome: a study of 59 cases.

The Meckel syndrome (MS), relatively frequent in Finland, has been subjected to a nationwide study regarding the spectrum of anomalies, diagnostic criteria and epidemiology. This report describes the observations made on brain pathology in the 59 cases in the series. 10 cases were studied neuropathologically after formalin fixation of the brain. A spectrum of CNS malformations was seen with craniorachischisis totalis at the most severe end and a partial defect of corpus callosum as the only abnormality at the mildest end of the malformative spectrum. The most consistent malformation was occipital meningo-encephalocele, observed in 90% of the cases. Absence of olfactory bulbs was almost as frequent, while only two cases with a telencephalic holosphere were observed. Defects in midline commissuration (including absent or incomplete corpus callosum), associated with absence of the lateral ventricles, represented the third group of malformations common in MS. Polymicrogyria, heterotopias and characteristic, neuroepithelial rosettes were frequent microscopic features. Brain pathology in the Meckel syndrome thus displays a wide malformative spectrum with disturbances in both dorsal and ventral induction as well as in proliferation and migration. These findings suggest a heterochronic pathogenesis compatible with the genetic nature of this syndrome.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗