BACKGROUND: Like other acute and @entity281 , @entity281 leads to @entity409 . Furthermore, it has been suggested that the chronic inflammatory state present in chronic @entity166 leads to an acceleration in @entity731 . For the prediction of CAD, it is possible to use epicardial fat thickness (EFT) as an adjunctive marker beside the classical risk factors, as it is easily and non-invasively evaluated by transthoracic echocardiography. The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of impaired myocardial performance as well as of increased arterial stiffness and EFT in @entity1 who had been infected with @entity3377 in the past. METHODS: Included in the study were twenty-seven @entity3377 @entity1 and twenty-six healthy volunteers. Using EFT and transthoracic echocardiography, which included Doppler echocardiography in combination with tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), all the @entity1 were examined to measure their @entity2333 index (AoSI), aortic distensibility (AoD), and aortic elastic modulus (AoEM) values. RESULTS: A statistically significant increase was observed in hs-CRP, @entity2333 index, aortic elastic modulus and EFT in @entity3377 @entity1 when compared with the controls (2.46 +/- 1.40 vs. 1.71 ? 0.61, P=0.016; 9.69 +/- 6.99 vs. 2.14 +/- 0.72, P < 0.001; 11.17 +/- 8.60 vs 2.18 +/- 0.90, P < 0.001; 0.76 +/- 0.08 vs. 0.63 +/- 0.10, P < 0.001). On the other hand, there was a significant decrease in aortic strain and aortic distensibility (7.41 ? 6.82 vs 18.26 +/- 5.83, P < 0.001; 1.83 +/- 1.71 vs. 5.22 +/- 1.72, P < 0.001, respectively). No difference was observed between the two groups with respect to the left ventricular myocardial performance index (MPI) (0.62 +/- 0.15 vs. 0.61 +/- 0.13, P=0.859). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we demonstrated for the first time in the literature thatthere was impaired aortic elasticity and increased EFT in @entity1 with @entity3377 , while the myocardial performance index remained unaffected. We also determined that these effects had a significant correlation with @entity32 .

Does XXXX cause arterial stiffness and ventricular remodelling through inflammation?

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity32 :: ('MESH:D007249', 'Disease') :: ['inflammation'] @entity3377 :: ('MESH:D002006', 'Disease') :: ['brucellosis'] @entity409 :: ('MESH:D008107', 'Disease') :: ['endothelial dysfunction'] @entity281 :: ('MESH:D007239', 'Disease') :: ['Brucella infection', 'chronic infections'] @entity2333 :: ('MESH:D001018', 'Disease') :: ['aortic stiffness'] @entity731 :: ('MESH:D050197', 'Disease') :: ['atherosclerosis'] @entity166 :: ('MESH:D003141', 'Disease') :: ['infectious diseases']
@entity3377 :: (MESH:D002006,Disease) :: ['brucellosis']
