Diagnostic performance of the post-exercise systolic blood pressure response for the detection of severe coronary artery disease

Systolic blood pressure recovery [rSBP] immediately after exercise effectively predicts survival and co-morbidity in those with atherosclerotic heart disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of the rSBP index for detecting coronary artery disease [CAD] severity. Prospective cross-sectional study Shafa Hospital, Kerman Province, Iran between March and August 2009 Ninety-four consecutive adult patients who were candidates for evaluation of CAD Interventions: Exercise stress testing and initial coronary angiography Main Outcome Measures: The rSBP was calculated by dividing the SBP three minutes after exercise by the SBP at peak exercise. Subjects with a high ratio of SBPs at 3 min of recovery to peak exercise were more likely to have severe CAD, adjusting for age, gender and body mass index using multivariate logistic regression analysis. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of abnormal rSBP for predicting severe CAD were 42.6%, 81.8%, 50.0% and 77.1%, respectively. According to the ROC curve analysis, the rSBP measurement was a good indicator of severe CAD with areas under the ROC curves 0.652 [95% CI: 0.524 - 0.780]. The optimal cut-off value for rSBP for predicting severe CAD was identified at 0.78 yielding a sensitivity of 60.7% and a specificity of 65.2%. Systolic blood pressure ratio at three minutes post-exercise is a good diagnostic marker for predicting severe CAD with a high specificity and a good discriminative power

Study of the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of novel rigid benzofuran-3, 4-dihydroxy chalcone by formalin, hot-plate and carrageenan tests in mice

It is reported that dihydroxy chalcones have analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects. Study of the structure activity relationship [SAR] shows that benzofuran-3-one derivatives may be more effective in this respect. In this study, a new [Z]-2-[3,4-dihydroxybenzylidene]-5-methoxybenzofuran-3[2H]-one [compound 5] was synthesized and its analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects were evaluated by formalin, carrageenan and hot-Plate methods in mice. The results showed that, compound 5 induced significant antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effect [P< 0.01]. Maximum analgesia [42.6%] was obtained at dose of 25 mg/kg in the first phase of formalin test. The effect of compound 5 was higher [87.7%] in chronic phase of inflammation induced by formalin [P< 0.01]. Administration of 25 mg/kg of compound 5 inhibited the inflammation induced by carrageenan, 32.8% and 41.7%, 1 and 3 hour after carrageenan injection, respectively. In addition, this dose of compound 5, induces significant analgesia [20.2%] in hot plate test 45 minutes after injection [P<0.01]. Therefore it seems that compound 5 has potential for discovery of a compound with potent anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects and its scaffold could be use for further structural modifications