Relation between single tomographic intravascular ultrasound image parameters and intracoronary Doppler flow velocity in patients with intermediately severe coronary stenoses.

BACKGROUND: Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging parameters have been suggested as criteria to determine coronary lesion significance before intervention. However, there has not been a systematic examination of combined anatomic and physiologic data in the same patients with coronary artery disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: To examine the relation between coronary flow reserve and IVUS parameters, 41 patients with intermediately severe coronary artery stenoses had measurements of coronary flow velocity (0.014-inch Doppler flow wire), coronary flow velocity reserve (CVR) (hyperemic/basal mean flow), IVUS imaging (2.9F, Cardiovascular Imaging Systems, Inc.), and quantitative coronary angiography before intervention. Correlations between physiologic and anatomic parameters were performed by simple regression. Results were also examined by patient subgroups with CVR > 1.8 or < 1.8 to assess differences in IVUS parameters. The angiographic percent diameter stenosis was 52% +/- 17% (range 18% to 95%). Mean CVR was 1.88 +/- 0.56 (range 0.9 to 3.18). IVUS minimal luminal diameter (r = 0.312, p = 0.047) and angiographic percent stenosis (r = 3.05, p = 0.052) were weakly related to poststenotic CVR. Comparing patients with CVR < 1.8, IVUS reference segment area, IVUS lumen area, and angiographic percent diameter stenosis was higher (17.7 +/- 0.3 vs 12.9 +/- 4.4 mm2, p < 0.05; 6.20 +/- 3.76 vs 4.34 +/- 2.00 mm2, p < 0.05; and 60% +/- 14% vs 46% +/- 17%, p < 0.01, respectively) than in the group with CVR > 1.8. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a precise determination of cross-sectional vessel areas and absolute dimensions by IVUS, single tomographic measurements did not correlate well with coronary physiologic responses. These data suggest that the physiologic data may be complementary to anatomic quantitative IVUS, enhancing information for coronary interventional decision making.

[Mechanisms of the initiation of lipid peroxidation in the synaptosomes of marine teleosts]. / Issledovanie mekhanizmov initsiirovaniia perekisnogo okisleniia lipidov v sinaptosomakh morskikh kostistykh ryb.

The initial rates of NAD- and NADPH-dependent enzymic and Fe+-ascorbic acid-dependent nonenzymic lipid peroxidation have been measured in synaptosomes from the brain of 4 teleost species. The rates of peroxidation were compared with lipid composition and fatty acid composition of total lipids in order to reveal factors accounting for the intensity of peroxidation in the excitable membranes from the brain of ectotherms. The data obtained indicate that the rates of enzymic lipid peroxidation do not correlate with lipid and fatty acid compositions, depending on the efficiency of production of oxygen in the active form by pyridine nucleotide-dependent enzymic systems. Activation of lipid peroxidation during adaptation of animals to the environment may be considered as one of the mechanisms which account for compensatory changes in fatty acid composition of the membrane lipids.

[Brain lipids of a mammoth, Elephas primigenius, which died more than 40,000 years ago]. / Issledovanie lipidov mozga mamonta Elephas primigenius, pogibshego bolee 40 tysiach let tomu nazad.

Studies have been made on the brain lipids of the 6--7-month mammoth which remained in the eternal ice for more than 40.000 years. Thin layer chromatography of chloroformmethanol extract of the brain lipids shows that all glycerophospholipids in the brain were destroyed. On the contrary, sphingophospholipid sphingomyelin yielded the evident spot which was identified by specific reactions and by comparison with sphingomyelin from the brain of rat. Sphingomyelin content was evaluated. Using gas-liquid chromatography, fatty acid composition of sphingomyelin was investigated. It was found to be close to that in contemporary mammals. Other shingolipids -- cerebrosides, sulfatides, gangliosides -- persisted (probably, only partially) and were studied quantitatively. Relative content of cerebrosides with normal fatty acids and hydrooxyacids was determined. Studies were also made on fatty acid composition of cerebrosides, sulfatides and gangliosides, as well as on the composition of spingosine bases of gangliosides. Free cholesterol was found in the brain of the mammoth. Other sterols were not detected. With respect to quantitative evaluation of the preserved lipids, it should be mentioned that on the one hand, the brain underwent dehydration which increased lipid content per a unit of "wet" weight, whereas on the other one lipids were partially degraded, this process decreasing their content.

[Conditions of spontaneous gelatinization of sarcoplasmic proteins]. / Ob usloviiakh spontannogo Zhelirovaniia sarkoplaszmaticheskikh belkov

Ca2+ ions at low concentration (10(-4)-10(-5) M) when added to ultracentrifugates of sarcoplasmic proteins with minimal content of sarcoplasmic reticulum fragments completely prevent protein gelatinization or gels, formed in these conditions, quickly dilute. Ca2+ ions at the concentration of 10(-3) M prevented in these conditions gelatinization in all the cases studied. Strong gels of sarcoplasmic proteins are formed afterwards in weak acid (pH 6.1-6.75), neutral (pH 7.0) and weak alkaline (pH 7.25-7.45 and higher) media. It is suggested that gelatinization of sarcoplasmic proteins is closely related with the development of plastic tonus, obturatory muscle function and viscous after-effect.

[Brain lipid biochemistry of the sturgeons Acipenseridae]. / K biokhimii lipidov mozga osetrovykh ryb Acipenseridae

Brain lipids of 4 species of sturgeons-Acipenser güldenstädti, A. stellatus, A. ruthenus and Huso huso-have been investigated. In whole brain homogenates the content of the basic phospholipid families, their fatty acid composition as well as the content of glycosphingolipids-gangliosides, cerebrosides and sulfatides were studied. The quantitative relations between different molecular ganglioside fractions and their fatty acid composition, as well as the relative content of hydroxycerebrosides and cerebrosides with normal fatty acids were determined. The brain lipids of Acipenseridae were compared to previously obtained data on the brain of Elasmobranch and Teleost fishes. The brain lipid pattern of the four sturgeon species is very similar, but it differs greatly from that of Elasmobranch and of Teleostean brain, being in some respect more like the type of bony fish brain, in others the kind of brain of sharks and rays, and frequently considerably differing from both these types. The conspicous peculiarity in the content and molecular characteristics of the brain lipids of Acipenseridae compels us to agree with the opinion expressed by the late A.N. Belozerski and his coworkers [26, 27], based on a detailed study of fish DNA nucleotides, that the Ganoid fish are to be regarded as an independent class.

[Sodium reabsorption and the membrane systems of vertebrate kidneys]. / Reabsorbtsiia natriia i membrannye sistemy pochek pozvonochnykh

Sodium reabsorption is low in coldblooded animals (the lamprey Lampetra fluviatilis, red salmon Oncorhynchus nerka, carp Cyprinus carpio, frog Rana temporaria, tortoise Agryonemis horsfieldi) being much higher in warmblooded ones (chicken, pigeon, rat). High level of Na transport in warmblooded animals is paralleled by high activity of succinate dehydrogenase as compared with the activity of Na,K-ATPase. The content of monoenoic fatty acids in the glycerophosphatides from frog and tortoise kidneys is higher than that from pigeon and rat ones.