François Mach

This work presents a strategy for the evaluation of differences in plasma phospholipid content between atherosclerotic and healthy mice from micro volumes (2 microL) spotted on filter paper. Dried plasma spots (DPS) were directly desorbed into a triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometer using a homemade prototype, ensuring high-throughput analysis of dried spots without any sample pretreatment. Multiple positive and negative neutral loss and precursor ion scans were simultaneously acquired in a single loop, allowing oriented fingerprinting until 2700 potential species including phosphatidic acid (PA), phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylserine (PS), and sphingomyelin (SM) classes. The phospholipidic variations between 15 healthy and 15 atherosclerotic mice were evaluated using t tests, matrix reduction and merging, and principal component analysis (PCA) as a chemometric statistical approach. The discriminating ions in PCA analysis were qualitatively identified in an information dependent acquisition (IDA) manner using enhanced resolution and enhanced product ion scans. PCA demonstrates a clear clustering between healthy and diseased mice. Regarding the most relevant variables identified, this procedure has confirmed the role of SM and PS classes in atherosclerosis and has established potential biomarkers shown to be significantly up- or down-regulated with the disease. The results presented in this work demonstrate the sample processing and analysis potential of the developed strategy to evaluate new biomarkers and the state of a disease.

Recurrence of cardiovascular events and mortality remain high after acute coronary syndromes. A Swiss multicentric study, "Inflammation and acute coronary syndromes (ACS)--Novel strategies for prevention and clinical managements", is currently underway with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. The study includes a clinical research subproject of which the aim is to assess the impact of the ELIPS program (multi-dimEnsionaL prevention Program after acute coronary Syndrome) on the recurrence of cardiovascular events after an ACS. The basic research sub-projects aim to investigate novel cardiovascular risk biomarkers and genetic determinants of recurrence and to study the role of stem cells after an ACS. Another sub-project will evaluate intracoronary imaging techniques and the efficacy of different types of stents.

This article gives a brief overview of the importance of heart rate as a risk factor in patients with coronary heart diseases. Increased heart rate (> or = 70 bpm) is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular events. Ivabradine, the first of the therapeutic class of I(f) current inhibitors, is a selective and specific inhibitor of the I(f) current, resulting in the exclusive reduction in heart rate, while preserving the contractility of the myocardium, atrioventricular conduction, ventricular repolarization and blood pressure. Ivabradine is a new efficient and safe therapeutic option in the treatment of coronary artery disease. The available evidence demonstrates that ivabradine provides clinical benefits in coronary artery disease patients, symptomatic or not with a heart rate > or = 70 bpm, irrespective of the background therapy.

Changes in diagnostic criteria have impacted on the definition of the metabolic syndrome. The central aetiological importance of insulin resistance has lessened, while the role of other cardiovascular risk factors has progressively increased. Inflammatory mediators have also been identified as crucial targets for more selective therapies in metabolic syndrome. Among several pro‐inflammatory factors, adiponectin has been shown to be associated with reduced cardiovascular risk in metabolic syndrome patients. Here, we review new therapeutic approaches, which could potentially increase adiponectin levels in metabolic syndrome.