Increased vascular stiffness and reduced endothelial nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability are characteristic of diabetes. Whether these are evident at a more moderate levels of hyperglycaemia has not been investigated. The objectives of this study were to examine the association between the level of glycaemia and resistance vasculature phenotype, incorporating both arterial stiffness and endotheli...

BACKGROUND: The novel synthetic triterpenoid, bardoxolone methyl, has the ability to upregulate cytoprotective proteins via induction of the nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway. This makes it a promising therapeutic agent in disease states characterized by dysregulated oxidative signalling. We have examined the effect of a Nrf2 activator, dihydro-CDDO-trifluoroethyl am...

AIM: Targeting basic life support (BLS) training to bystanders who are most likely to witness an out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is an important public health intervention. We performed a systematic review examining the evidence of the effectiveness of providing BLS training to family members of high-risk cardiac patients. METHODS: A search of Ovid MEDLINE, CINAL, EMBASE, Informit,...

Available inotropic pharmacotherapy for acute heart failure (HF) remains largely ineffective at ameliorating marked impairments in contractile function. Nitroxyl (HNO), the redox sibling of NO•, has recently attracted interest as a therapeutic approach for acute HF. We now compare the impact of ischaemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury on acute haemodynamic responsiveness of the HNO donor, Angeli's sa...

Nuclear factor κappa B (NF-κB) is an important transcription factor in the development and progression of coronary artery disease (CAD). Recent evidence suggests that -94 ATTG ins/del mutant in the promoter of NFKB1 gene is an essential functional mutant. The present study demonstrated the frequencies of the del/del (DD) genotype and del (D) allele were significantly higher in CAD patients than...

BACKGROUND: Withdrawing life-sustaining therapy because of perceived poor neurological prognosis (WLST-N) is a common cause of hospital death after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Although current guidelines recommend against WLST-N before 72h (WLST-N<72), this practice is common and may increase mortality. We sought to quantify these effects. METHODS: In a secondary analysis of a...

NTRODUCTION: Menu energy labelling at point of purchase is gaining traction worldwide, yet the potential impact for different socioeconomic groups is unclear. We aimed to summarise evidence on the effectiveness of menu energy labelling by socioeconomic position (SEP). METHODS: A systematic search for papers published to September 2015 was conducted using terms for labelling, food outlets...

BACKGROUND: Select Emergency Medical Services (EMS) practitioners substitute endotracheal intubation (ETI) with supraglottic airway (SGA) insertion to minimize CPR chest compression interruptions, but the resulting effects upon chest compression fraction (CCF) are unknown. We sought to determine the differences in CCF between adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) receiving ETI and thos...

Smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation and fibrosis contribute to the development of advanced atherosclerotic lesions. Oxidative stress caused by increased production or unphysiological location of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a known major pathomechanism. However, in atherosclerosis, in particular under hyperglycaemic/diabetic conditions, the hydrogen peroxide-producing NADPH oxidase type ...

Street layout is consistently associated with adults' travel behaviors, however factors influencing this association are unclear. We examined associations of street layout with travel behaviors: walking for transport (WT) and car use; and, the extent to which these relationships may be accounted for by availability of local destinations. A 24-h travel diary was completed in 2009 by 16,345 adult...

Increases in the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) have aroused strong interest in identifying antioxidants from natural sources for use in preventive medicine. Citrus macroptera (C. macroptera), commonly known as "Satkara", is an important herbal and medicinal plant reputed for its antioxidant, nutritious and therapeutic uses. The aim of the present study was to investigate the cardio-...

BACKGROUND: Survival varies among those resuscitated from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Evidence-based performance measures have been used to describe hospital quality of care in conditions such as acute coronary syndrome and major trauma. It remains unclear if adherence to performance measures is associated with better outcome in patients hospitalized after OHCA. OBJECTIVES: To...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Algorithms are often used to improve identification of Aboriginal Australians in linked data sets with inconsistent and incomplete recording of Aboriginal status. We compared how consistently some common algorithms identified family members, developed a new algorithm incorporating relatives' information, and assessed the effects of these algorithms on health estima...

OBJECTIVE: Exercise is an efficacious stand-alone therapy for mild-to-moderate depression, but little is known about the influence of physical activity levels on responses to depression treatment. This study aimed to prospectively assess the association between self-reported habitual physical activity levels and depression severity following a 12-week intervention. METHOD: 629 adults (75...

Diabetes-induced cardiac complications include left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and heart failure. We previously demonstrated that LV phosphoinositide 3-kinase p110α (PI3K) protects the heart against diabetic cardiomyopathy, associated with reduced NADPH oxidase expression and activity. Conversely, in dominant negative PI3K(p110α) transgenic mice (dnPI3K), reduced cardiac PI3K signaling exagge...

INTRODUCTION: Many patients who suffer cardiac arrest do not respond to standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation. There is growing interest in utilizing veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (E-CPR) in the management of refractory cardiac arrest. We describe our preliminary experiences in establishing an E-CPR program for refractory cardiac arre...

BACKGROUND: Sympatho-adrenal responses are activated as an innate defense coping (DefS) mechanism during emotional stress. Whether these sympatho-adrenal responses drive cardiac troponin T (cTnT) increases are unknown. Therefore, associations between cTnT and sympatho-adrenal responses were assessed. METHODS: A prospective bi-ethnic cohort, excluding atrial fibrillation, myocardial infar...

The activity of the early signaling enzyme, phospholipase Cβ1b (PLCβ1b), is selectively elevated in diseased myocardium and activity increases with disease progression. We aimed to establish the contribution of heightened PLCβ1b activity to cardiac pathology. PLCβ1b, the alternative splice variant, PLCβ1a, and a blank virus were expressed in mouse hearts using adeno-associated viral vectors (rA...

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations of time spent sitting in cars with markers of cardio-metabolic risk in Australian adults. METHOD: Data were from 2800 participants (age range: 34-65) in the 2011-12 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study. Self-reported time spent in cars was categorized into four groups: ≤15min/day; >15 to ≤30min/day; >30 to ≤60min/day; and >60min/day. Markers of ...

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to estimate the impact of past and future changes in obesity and diabetes prevalence in mid-life on disability prevalence for adult Australians. METHODS: We analysed data from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study (AusDiab) including participants aged 45-64years, disability-free at baseline (1999/2000) with disability information at follow-up (2011/12) ...