Filaments or blobs are well known to strongly contribute to particle and energy losses both in L- and H-mode, making them an important plasma characteristic to investigate. They are plasma structures ...narrowly localized across a magnetic field and stretched along magnetic field lines. In toroidal devices, their development is observed to take place in the peripheral plasma. Filament characteristics have been studied extensively over the years using various diagnostic techniques. One such diagnostic is the Doppler backscattering (DBS) method employed at the spherical tokamak Globus-M/M2. It has been observed that the DBS signal reacts to the backscattering from filaments. However, the DBS data have proven difficult to analyze, which is why modelling was undertaken using the code IPF-FD3D to understand what kind of information can be extrapolated from the signals. A circular filament was thoroughly investigated in slab geometry with a variety of characteristics studied. Apart from that, the motion of the filaments in the poloidal and radial directions was analyzed. Additionally, other shapes of filaments were presented in this work. Modelling for the real geometry of the Globus-M/M2 tokamak was performed.
Nitric oxide, NO, is the key vasorelaxing agent produced by vascular endothelium. Stable end products of NO oxidation, nitrate and nitrite (NOx), are considered as markers of endothelial dysfunction ...associated with hypertension. Our goal was to compare NOx levels in patients with hypertension on controlled low nitrate diet with NOx levels in general population without dietary restrictions.
The study included 1005 participants split into 8 groups: healthy subjects (n=28) and patients with moderate (n=37) and malignant hypertension (n=24) on low nitrate diet; healthy subjects (n=9) and patients with stroke (n=44) on low nitrate diet; normotensive subjects (n=354) and patients with elevated blood pressure (n=430) and severe hypertension (n=79) without dietary restrictions.
In groups with controlled low NOx diet, patients with moderate and malignant hypertension had significantly (p<0.01) higher serum NOx versus healthy subject (66.9±18.8μM and 75.3±22.7μM versus 52.8±28.8μM, respectively). Patients with stroke had significantly (p=0.02) higher serum NOx levels versus corresponding group of healthy subjects (106.3±58.4μM versus 71.2±18.1μM, respectively). In the absence of dietary control, differences in serum NOx levels between normotensive subjects and patients with elevated blood pressure and severe hypertension were not significant (p>0.1).
Differences in serum NOx concentrations are associated with severity of hypertension only in patients on low nitrate diet. The highest concentrations of NOx were observed in patients with stroke. In the absence of dietary control, NOx levels were not associated with presence or severity of hypertension.
•Differences in serum NOx where associated with hypertension in patients on low NOx diet.•Serum NOx levels are not associated with hypertension in patients on unrestricted diet.•The highest concentrations of NOx were observed in patients with ischemic stroke.•NOx can be used as a marker of endothelial dysfunction only in patients on low NOx diet.
Chronic heart failure (CHF) is a global medical, social and economic problem. Currently, the search and study of new biomarkers that can provide early diagnosis of CHF, serve as a laboratory tool for ...assessing the effectiveness of treatment, or be used as prognostic markers and risk stratification criteria are ongoing. Scientists' interest is focused, in particular, on studying the role of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) in CHF. There is increasing evidence highlighting the value of FGF21 as a new marker for the diagnosis and assessment of prognosis in patients with CHF. The role of FGF21 in CHF is very interesting due to its cardioprotective aspects. Final confirmation of the diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic roles of FGF21 will come from future studies.
Despite significant advances in medicine, cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide. An important task in cardiology is the search and study of new cardiovascular ...biological markers. In recent years, salusins have attracted the interest of scientists. Salusins are endogenous biologically active peptides, which were first identified in 2003. Thus far, studies have demonstrated that salusin-α and salusin-β play important roles in vascular remodeling, inflammation, hypertension, and atherosclerotic processes. Salusin-α exhibits an antiatherogenic effect, whereas salusin-β plays a proatherogenic role. Despite the diverse biological, physiological, and pathophysiological aspects of salusins, the exact mechanism of their cardiovascular effects is not fully known. Further in-depth studies of the role of salusins in cardiovascular diseases are required. The regulation of the concentration and expression of salusin-α and salusin-β may prove to be a promising strategy for the treatment of patients with cardiac diseases.
The main cause of many cardiovascular diseases is atherosclerosis. The atherosclerotic process, manifested by acute vascular accidents, such as myocardial and/or cerebral infarction, or chronic ...ischemic conditions, such as coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, is essentially a systemic inflammatory process. The significant role of T-cells, macrophages, neutrophils and cytokines in this pathological process has been proven. The presented literature review indicates the potentially important diagnostic and prognostic value of the interleukin-27 assessment. It is expected that further scientific and clinical studies will demonstrate the possibility of using this cytokine as an additional laboratory tool for the diagnosis, risk stratification and prediction of cardiovascular events in patients with a cardiac profile.
Research into new biological markers may help early diagnosis and effective therapy for cardiology patients. The use of biomarkers to evaluate patients has made a major impact in oncology, but is ...still in its infancy in the cardiology field. Studies on secreted frizzled-related protein 5 (SFRP5) have revealed its potential use as a marker of cardiovascular pathology. Preclinical studies have highlighted the important role this protein plays in many biological processes. It reduces the proliferation and migration of cardiac fibroblasts and suppresses the Wnt5A/JNK signaling pathway thus reducing the severity of oxidative stress and inflammation. It normalizes nitric oxide production and has several other effects. However, recent clinical studies of SFRP5 have produced conflicting data. Nevertheless, this protein shows promise as a marker for several metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Preliminary data also suggest SFRP5 may be a therapeutic target. Further study of SFRP5 and its role in cardiovascular pathology is necessary, and will create new diagnostic and prognostic possibilities for this biological marker.
Currently, the search and study of new biological markers that can provide early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, serve as a laboratory tool for assessing the effectiveness of treatment, or be ...used as prognostic markers and risk stratification criteria is ongoing. Our literature review indicates the potentially important diagnostic and prognostic value of assessing members of the interleukin-6 family. It is expected that further scientific and clinical studies will demonstrate the possibility of using members of the interleukin-6 family as an additional laboratory tool for the diagnosis, risk stratification and prediction of cardiovascular events in cardiac patients. It is necessary to evaluate in detail the possibilities of blockade of these interleukin-6 molecules in patients with cardiovascular diseases in vitro and in vivo.
The epidemic of heart failure (HF) is one of the problems that the global health system has been facing for decades. HF is a multicomponent clinical syndrome caused by dysfunction of the heart and ...its pathological remodeling. In addition to the well-known natriuretic peptides, a number of cardiovascular biological markers have now been identified that provide clinicians with additional opportunities in diagnosing, classifying, predicting, and monitoring the effectiveness of treating patients with HF. From the position of establishing the sympathetic load in patients with HF, it seems very promising to assess the concentrations of catestatin. The presented data of our literature review suggest that catestatin is probably a reliable biological marker of the activity of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, and its elevated concentrations in patients with HF reflect the severity of the pathological process. However, despite the reliable results of studies, the clinical significance of assessing the values of this marker both separately and in the framework of a multimarker model requires further study in larger prospective clinical studies.
In recent years, the attention of scientists has been actively focused on studying the role of endocan as a biological marker of endothelial dysfunction in cardiovascular diseases. Until recent ...years, endocan has been studied in acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease, and renal replacement therapy. Endocan, formerly known as endothelial cell-specific molecule-1, is a soluble dermatan sulfate proteoglycan expressed and secreted into the circulation from endothelial cells. Currently available studies demonstrate the diagnostic and prognostic value of endocan evaluation in cardiovascular pathology. It is expected that further scientific and clinical studies will demonstrate the possibilities of using endocan as an additional laboratory tool for diagnosing and assessing the prognosis in patients with a cardiac profile. Drug regulation of endocan concentration and expression may be a promising target for the treatment of cardiac and vascular pathology.
It has been proven that in patients with heart failure (HF), there is an increased level of adrenomedullin (ADM) in plasma. Biomarker indices correlate with the severity of hemodynamic dysfunction, ...as well as with neurohumoral indices, which are activated depending on the severity of congestive circulatory failure. In addition, the expression of the ADM gene in the heart and kidneys is increased in experimental and clinical HF. A small number of studies have examined the effect of ADM infusion. These studies have generally shown that hormone infusion has beneficial hemodynamic effects and promotes the maintenance/improvement of renal function, but most of the studies have been short-lived. The available results suggest that increasing ADM levels reduce the negative effects of vasoconstriction and sodium retention. A better understanding of the role of a biological marker in congestive circulatory failure may lead to the development of drugs that target ADM receptors.
