TLRs are receptors involved in the recognition of pathogens by the innate immune system, and TLR2 and TLR4 play important roles in the activation of monocytes. A total of 105 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography comprised of 46 with stable effort angina (SA), 41 with unstable angina (UA), and 18 with no significant CAD (CNT) were enrolled. The baseline expression levels of TLR2 and TLR4 on monocytes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were determined by flowcytometric analysis. Since TLR2 expression has been reported to be regulated by TLR4 signaling, we cultured PBMCs with or without lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 1 µ µ µ µ µg/ ml). At baseline, TLR4 levels (mean of fluorescence intensity ) in SA (145 ± ± ± ± ± 58, p < 0.05) and UA (164 ± ± ± ± ± 65, p < 0.01) were higher than those in CNT (107 ± ± ± ± ± 37). As for TLR2, levels were higher in UA (108 ± ± ± ± ± 36, p < 0.05) than in SA (94 ± ± ± ± ± 18) and CNT (87 ± ± ± ± ± 22). After stimulation with LPS, TLR2 levels increased in SA but decreased in UA. In conclusions, TLR4 levels increased in both SA and UA. Monocytes in UA were characterized by elevated TLR2 levels and unresponsiveness of the TLR2 levels to TLR4 stimulation. J Atheroscler Thromb, 2005; 12: 53-60.

AimsFew studies have reported the impact of high‐dose loop diuretics at discharge on prognosis in Japanese patients with heart failure (HF). Our purpose was to assess the relationship between the dose of loop diuretics at discharge and cardiovascular mortality in patients with HF.Methods and resultsWe enrolled decompensated HF patients who were admitted to our hospital between March 2010 and March 2015, and compared HF patients who received high‐dose loop diuretics at discharge (HD group) with low‐dose loop diuretics at discharge (LD group) with regard to risk of cardiovascular mortality, and all‐cause mortality. High‐dose loop diuretic was defined as ≥40 mg/day of oral furosemide at discharge. A total of 215 patients were enrolled to the study. The median follow‐up duration was 641 days. All‐cause and cardiovascular mortality were significantly lower in the LD group than in the HD group (10.4% vs. 31.6%, P < 0.001; 2.2% vs. 24.6%, P < 0.001, respectively). High‐dose loop diuretics were associated with cardiovascular mortality in multivariate Cox proportional hazards model (hazard ratio, 16.06, 95% confidence interval 3.457 to 116.8; P < 0.001). The largest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.85) for cardiovascular death was obtained with a threshold of 40 mg furosemide.ConclusionsHigh‐dose loop diuretic use at discharge was one of the predictors of cardiovascular mortality in patients with HF. An oral furosemide dose of 40 mg daily may be defined as ‘high‐dose’ loop diuretics in Japanese patients with chronic HF.

We found EES mechanical complications, often followed by longitudinal deformation or fracture leading to excessive neointimal hyperplasia, in-stent restenosis, and repeat revascularisation.

Lesion progression was categorized to distinct OCT morphologies that were related to changes in plaque mass or vessel remodeling.