Background In patients with systemic hypertension, microalbuminuria is a marker of
endothelial damage and is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular
disease. Objective To determine the factors that may lead to the occurrence of microalbuminuria in
hypertensive patients with serum creatinine lower than 1.5 mg/dL. Methods This cross-sectional study included 133 Brazilians with essential hypertension
followed up at a hypertension outpatient clinic. Those with serum creatinine
higher than 1.5 mg/dL, as well as those with diabetes mellitus, were excluded.
Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured, and body mass index (BMI)
and GFR estimated by using the CKD-EPI formula were calculated. The serum levels
of the following were assessed: CysC, creatinine, total cholesterol, HDL
cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, C-reactive protein (CRP) and fasting
glucose. Microalbuminuria was determined in 24-hour urine. Hypertensive patients
were classified according to the presence of one or more criteria for metabolic
syndrome. Results In a multiple regression analysis, the serum levels of CysC and CRP, the
atherogenic index log TG/HDLc and the presence of three or more criteria for
metabolic syndrome were positively correlated with microalbuminuria
(r2: 0.277, p < 0.05). Conclusion CysC, CRP, log TG/HDLc, and the presence of three or more criteria for metabolic
syndrome, regardless of serum creatinine, were associated with microalbuminuria,
an early marker of kidney damage and cardiovascular risk in patients with
essential hypertension.
A new left ventricle segmentation method in two-dimensional echocardiography images is proposed. Image processing techniques combined with radial search and temporal information are used to extract the left ventricle boundary. Borders from sequential images are extracted using the proposed method, and a curve illustrating the area variation within a cardiac cycle is presented. Performance evaluation is performed by comparing the borders obtained from the presented method to those manually prescribed by a medical specialist. The new sequential radial search algorithm improved the border extraction from long-axis ultrasound images, specially the ones where the mitral valve was open. Segmentation errors due to low contrast were corrected.
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