The effects of estrogen and hormone replacement therapy on cardiovascular systems.

Postmenopausal women have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, which is believed to correlate with lower estrogen level. There are conflicting data regarding hormone replacement therapy (HRT) based on the timing of this therapy. After large randomized trials showed no cardiovascular benefit of hormone replacement, estrogen replacement therapy was dramatically reduced even though starting hormone replacement in early postmenopausal period had shown significant benefit. There are hardly any reviews discussing in detail the effect of HRT on cardiovascular system while briefly discussing other effects of this therapy in postmenopausal women. The novelty of this review is the comprehensive discussion of this effect that can help researchers and clinicians to design future research or trials. In this manuscript, the effect of HRT on cardiovascular system in clinical trials and basic science will be reported and potentially erroneous conclusions drawn by various studies will be discussed. Furthermore, various noncardiovascular effect of HRT will be analyzed.

Elevated Coefficient of Variation in Total Fecal Bile Acids Precedes Diagnosis of Necrotizing Enterocolitis.

Accumulation of bile acids (BAs) may mediate development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Serial fecal samples were collected from premature infants with birth weight (BW) ≤ 1800 g, estimated gestational age (EGA) ≤ 32 weeks, and <30 days old prior to initiation of enteral feeding. Nine infants that developed Bell's Stage ≥ II NEC were matched with control infants based on BW, EGA, day of life (DOL) enteral feeding was initiated and DOL of the first sample. From each subject, five samples matched by DOL collected were analyzed for BA levels and composition. Fifteen individual BA species were measured via LC-MS/MS and total BA levels were measured using the Diazyme Total Bile Acid Assay kit. No statistically significant differences in composition were observed between control and NEC at the level of individual species (p = 0.1133) or grouped BAs (p = 0.0742). However, there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.000012) in the mean coefficient of variation (CV) between the two groups with infants developing NEC having more than four-fold higher mean CV than controls. Importantly, these variations occurred prior to NEC diagnosis. These data suggest fluctuations in total fecal BA levels could provide the basis for the first predictive clinical test for NEC.