Association of peripheral venous disease with arterial endothelial dysfunction: a proof-of-concept study.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the association between peripheral venous disease (PVD) and arterial endothelial dysfunction (ED). Arterial and venous diseases have been always considered as two completely different entities, but the recent discovery of a relationship between arterial and venous thrombosis have challenged this assumption. ED, considered to be an early process in the pathophysiology of atherosclerotic disease, could represent a common pathogenetic background. We studied 39 healthy volunteers (median age: 34 years; men: 25.6%). PVD was diagnosed using ultrasound examination, arterial ED using flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and FMD normalized for the peak shear rate (nFMD). Compared with controls, participants with PVD had a lower FMD (15.2 versus 23.4%, P < 0.001) and nFMD (12.7 × 10(-3) versus 19 × 10(-3)/second, P < 0.001). People with the most clinically evident disease had the worst endothelial function. In conclusion, our findings, if confirmed in larger population, might corroborate the idea that venous and arterial disease could have common causes.

Alexithymia and neuroendocrine-immune response in patients with autoimmune diseases: preliminary results on relationship between alexithymic construct and TNF-alpha levels.

Alexithymia is conceptualized as a disorder of emotion regulation mechanisms, which involves a dissociation of emotional and physical responses to life events and bodily sensations. Our results might suggest a possible relationship between the alexithymic construct and TNF levels in RA patients. These preliminary findings corroborate the integrated bidirectional interactions between neuropsychological mechanisms and the neuroendocrine-immune system in patients affected by autoimmune diseases and contribute to finding a common biological pathway linking alexithymia and autoimmune-inflammatory diseases.